Fallout: The Wastelandic Dream
by MasterOfEscapism
Summary: You join a jaded ex NCR soldier as he embarks on do-good adventures throughout the Mojave Wasteland five months after the second battle of Hoover Dam, which the NCR emerged victorious from.
1. Ch 1: A day in the sands and sun

Note: The story takes place five months after the second battle of Hoover Dam, with the NCR emerging victorious thanks to the help of the courier. I didn't intend on getting the courier too involved in this story but I'm leaning towards reconsidering that. If he or she does make an appearance at some point, it'll be way way later but at the very least, the courier's status will be alluded to here and there.

Note 2: Everything has been fully corrected. I'm just glad to be done with that. I haven't had any time to add more chapters to this because it's taken a while to finally get it on Fanfiction. Now I can just . . . relax and write. Hope you all enjoy.

**The Wastelandic Dream** [ Rated: M ]

Chapter 1: A lonely day in the sands and sun.

The post war world was so different. Cities like Los Angeles, which had once been grand, were reduced to ruins of a civilization that seemed so long past to the new generation that thrived there, all comparable to the ruins of the Aztec or Incan civilizations during the pre war years. Other places, like the Mojave desert, weren't any better. Broken cement or asphalt roads and a rare bush here or there, dying of course, accompanied by dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. Most importantly, however, there was a glaring sense of loneliness, which was one of the wasteland's definite and most grueling staples besides the raiders, the slavers, and the creatures that had mutated in the radioactive wake of the explosions.

There were certain places, however, that were relatively populated. Some places had even become so populated that they had created functioning communities, like Megaton near the Washington DC ruins or the New Vegas strip in Nevada, but it was a simple and undeniable truth that most of the entire world was barren and deceased. Places like these included the Mojave Desert, which was seldom populated even before the war. The Mojave Desert was an enormous expanse of dirt and weeds with small, insignificant blips of pre war establishments still standing, barely. This was where loneliness could manifest into a tangible apparition and swallow a man alive, chew him up, and spit out chunks of flesh and bone. And that's also where the protagonist of the scene found himself.

The dirt felt a certain way under his boots. Each step brought along a harsh crunching noise, like he was walking on snow, and the sun beating down on the naked expanse of the desert didn't make for traveling conditions that he was fond of. At the time, he only had one thing going for him. To every side, there were mounds of sand protruding from the level ground, which created the kind of cover that he liked to have from anyone or anything that might be looking for a victim. At the same time, these mounds provided vantage points from which he could hunt.

It was a relief, though, when he came about his current establishment. A broken down house sat in the distance, waiting for him, and when he reached it, he walked around it first. Once he had concluded that there were no tracks, and that it didn't look like anything had been tampered with since he left, he reached out and used a key to open the front door. Inside, the place was old, dirty, and made of wood that in a few of years, would likely be too aged to continue hanging on the walls.

Once he was inside, he removed his cowboy hat and placed it on the coat rack. To remove his duster, which was a brown trench coat, he placed his trail carbine in the other hand while he removed that side of the coat and returned it to the one previously holding it to remove that side as well. Then, he hung it on the rack beside the hat. He released a breath and moved to the window, where he used the tip of the trail carbine to tug the curtain aside. While the sunlight glazed his light face with a soft shine, a pair of mellow blue eyes cast a meek but perceptive glance on the immediate surroundings. Nothing. With that, he began moving inside. When he reached a stool, he sat on it and set the trail carbine flatly on a wodden table before he reached out and turned on the radio.

A very familiar melody manifested. Sad, really, but beautiful in its own right.

"Play the guitar, play it again, my Johnny."

In response to Peggy Lee's melodic voice, which resonated within the walls with a seriatim of eerie vibrations, he poured a glass of whiskey and began indulging.

"I was always a fool for my Johnny. For the one they call . . . Johnny Guitar."

Rem was thirty one years old now, had been born in a small town a few miles from Hollywood, CA called Santa Clarita, and carried a lot of lessons and customs along with him. In other words, like the modern American in the 1950's, he was the modern wastelander, fully accustomed and integrated to the law of the wasteland. Except those customs were different. There wasn't a Wastelandic dream to compose for himself in the future where he could have a steady, well paying job that offers medical benefits for he and his family. The only insurance he had was his ability to scavenge to make caps and his ability to be the winner of all the fights he would surely encounter in the future. Fortunately for him, he was real damn good at all of that.

"What if you go? What if you stay? I love you. What if you're cold? You can be kind, I know."

After a couple of drinks, he stopped. He placed the bottle of whiskey down beside the trail carbine and simply enjoyed the warm feeling that the alcohol left lingering in his chest. Then he stood up. Rem was tall, about six feet three inches, and was skinny. It could be seen in his knuckles because the skin hugged them tightly enough to make them look like they protruded more than they should. He was also vascular because of it, with long veins trailing the distance of his arms. So regardless of how skinny he was, he appeared rugged. Looked like a rock that had been beaten against other rocks for all the years he had been alive, but instead of coming out with just chips and pieces broken off, he came out shaped like a ball that instead of smashing and rubbing against the road ahead, would simply roll.

"There was never a man like my Johnny. Like the one they call, Johnny Guitar."

Every once in a while, he'd look out towards the windows. There were only two of them that weren't boarded up to the point no light shone through, and each of them was beside the front door to the house. It was safe to say that he didn't look enough times to catch absolutely everything that might shadow over on the window, but if that bit of insurance didn't work, his ears would. He was familiar with the sounds of the house by then, music included. And if there was a sap badass enough to try and sneak into his house, he'd be hard pressed to believe the guy was going to get in there without a few holes to show for it.

While the song continued to play, he made his way to the kitchen, where there was a refrigerator, a sink, and a stove. The refrigerator was running on a power source that had been improvised out of two fission batteries and the sink still had running water. Would have been nice if the bathroom had been in tact, even if he_ did_ end up showering with irradiated water, but it wasn't hard to accept that a wastelander can't expect to get everything he wants. Rem opened the refrigerator and picked a bottle of purified water out. Inside, there were four more bottles, enough to last him a couple of days, and some cooked gecko steaks that'd be tasty if he heated them up in a campfire.

When he was walking back out to the living room, he saw a shadow just when the song ended. Lazy day blues came on, which was a pretty big turn around from Johnny Guitar's somber tune. Seemed like lazy, yet relaxing in an upbeat way, convenience store music. It was the perfect type of song to make a raider feel like everything was coming along smoothly, and that the idiot inside would never see it coming. Rem walked casually to the table and grabbed the trail carbine, which was a lever action rifle that fired 44. magnum rounds. After that, he changed the radio, and another song came on. He was changing the radio channel, so he obviously had no idea someone was creeping around his home. But he did.

Then he heard something unexpected. There was a knock on the front door. A million thoughts crossed his mind just then. If it was the raider, the bastard had probably gotten off the chems and had built a bit of creativity because of it. Or maybe it was another simple and honest wastelander looking for shelter, "Me and my rifle don't take kindly to raiders, slavers, or Legionaries!" Rem declared.

"What about traveling merchants you agreed to create routes with?" Immediately, he recognized the voice. It sure was a merchant, and it was his voice that reminded him that he had, in fact, agreed to create a route stop at his home just in case he needed extra supplies. Rem looked out each of the windows just to make sure the visitor wasn't being held hostage and he finally opened the door. A couple of feet away, a brahmin, packed damn close to the tail, sauntered towards them. When he looked straight ahead and at the merchant, he nodded, "Twenty rounds for my friend here," he gestured for the trail carbine by placing the barrel over his right shoulder. "And did you get the parts I asked for?"

The merchant nodded, "Sure did. I even got you a little something extra that should appeal to you." He unpacked the brahmin and set his wares out to see. There were spare parts for his trail carbine, which he'd probably need in the near future, and a scope specified for the weapon. Rem looked at it with disdain, "No thanks," he picked up the parts, "With a gun like this, I prefer the iron sight. Less intrusive up close." The merchant looked surprised, and then he shrugged, "Guess you know what you want. Will that be all?"

Rem gave him the caps, shook hands, and went back inside.


	2. Ch 2: The rifleman

Chapter 2: The rifleman.

He was sitting down in front of the radio again at the time, fighting the desire to get drunk out of his mind so that the rest of the day would flash by. Ugh, how long had it been now? The question made him sneer angrily as he stood up from the chair. But really now, how long had it been? Two years now, maybe, he figured, as he stood in front of one of the windows and peered out into the surrounding wasteland. Two years now, without any direction. Two years without a goal besides staying alive. He slapped his palm against the window sill out of frustration. Then again, regardless of whether or not he had all the will to go out and do something, anything, what? What was he going to do? Hired gun? Could he go out and be someone's bodyguard? No, it wasn't good enough.

Stepping away from the window, he leaned up against the wall beside it, thoughts still firing. Jobs like those were way too . . . normal. They fed into the post war world all the same, caused everything to simply go round and round and in the end, humanity was standing in the same spot as before. Yeah, he needed something more momentous. He wanted to spend his life, his body, and his mind on something revolutionary. Something that would shine a golden, piercing light through time and manifest in the future when nuclear bombs were ready to be used to destroy the world again . . . and stop it from happening. He knew it was a naive idea, but the way he saw it, humanity was on its knees, existing a pitiful existence, and what the hell was there to shoot for? A cushy job on the New Vegas strip? That wasn't his Wastelandic dream. No, his Wastelandic dream was more magnificent.

"Somethin's gotta give somethin's gotta give," bang bang bang.

He turned his head outward and then lowered it, eyes moving from one side to the other as he tried to pinpoint the direction of where the shots were fired. He couldn't really get it, so he quickly moved towards the door, pushed the door open, and stood outside to improve his odds of deciphering the distance and direction. For a long couple of seconds he stared down at the ground, listening closely and hoping it would happen again. Bang, one more shot occured just when he thought it might be over, and it was close by. Two hundred and fifty yards southwest at most. Now, he had to weigh his options. Was he going to go see what it was or not? Was he going to sit by and simply wait and see if whatever it was wouldn't come his way? Wait a minute, southwest. Oh okay, it made sense now.

Rem stepped inside and emerged from his home moments later clad in his brown trench coat, his cowboy hat, and armed with the trail carbine. The radio was left on and when he closed the door, he used the flap of his trench coat to wipe the door knob, and he began heading southwest with a brisk pace. Each time he approached a piece of land that was higher than most, instead of climbing over it, he jogged around it. Made for a trek that felt longer, but it made it a lot easier to keep his head from sticking out. He had spent enough years out on the wasteland to know that some folks out there were simply more perceptive than others, and those were the kind of people he was making sure wouldn't see him. Besides, when you're alone, the element of surprise absolutely _has_ to be on your side.

It actually didn't take as long as he thought, and the hardest part of finding a target before it finds you took care of itself. Once he was within one hundred and fifty feet of his destination, he heard another gunshot. _There they are_, finally, he let himself pace up to the tip of one of the higher plateaus nearby and lowered onto his knees. Before doing anything else, he looked around, made sure that there were no creatures nearby to worry about, and then let himself rest on his stomach. He looked ahead finally, and there he saw it, the first indication that he had been correct in his assumption earlier. There was a pack brahmin tied up to an iron post and nearby, its former owner shared the same fate, except that he had been brutally beaten.

The camp had been inhabited only recently, no doubt, because this was the first time he had caught wind of it. It was composed of a cement establishment that had crumbled after either the explosions or after father time had had his way with it. At first glance, it was open in many places, and for a guy whose shot was normally longer than most, it was ideal. However, not everyone in there was in plain view, and if he was good enough to get two accurate shots off before they realized they were being picked off from a distance, they had a lot of places to take cover. Was it worth the danger? Yeah, it was. If he managed to save the merchant, he could likely bargain for a discount on future purchases. On top of that, he should also be looking at a resupply the equivalent of whatever he'd end up using to save the guy.

Once he was done deciding that it was worth it, he began coming up with a plan. Who did he want to shoot first? Looking at the establishment, most of them were huddled up together and if he shot one of them, everyone would know immediately. So it was possible that he was going to have to be patient about this. He might have to wait an hour, two hours, or even three, until they put more distance between them and gave him an ideal situation to begin a surprise assault, and he didn't have a problem with that at all. In the past, he had paid the price for taking a shot early too many times, and he was too old now to keep making the same mistake. So, was he going to wait? His eyes traveled towards the merchant, and then, yeah, he waited. As the time passed, he also strafed the encampment and got closer, eventually picking his spot on his stomach on a large mound of sand that gave him a good vantage point.

One hour went by, but he kept looking around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him. Another hour later, the day was running out. The sun had cast a reddish glow across the sky, so there was still a good amount of light for him. _When I attack, I wonder if they'll know I'm here for the merchant_, he wondered. _If they do happen to realize that, they'll want him as a hostage_, and so, the idea birthed a plan, and when he surveyed towards the merchant, his chance finally came. One of them branched off towards the merchant, and another branched off towards the western side of the location into plain view. Perfect.

He lowered his eyes and aligned his gaze with the iron sight of the trail carbine. His lips pressed together, he exhaled, and tightened his grip so it stopped moving. This was it, he was starting the attack. He looked back on the trail carbine's last test run near his home when he was shooting some sarsaparilla bottles and took the spread into account, and eventually, the raiders heard the gunshot. By the time the ones around the campfire had stood up on their feet, the raider on the west end of the establishment was on the floor unmoving with a bullet resting peacefully within his gray matter. On top of that, the trail carbine's iron sight had been aligned with his other target, the one closest to the merchant, maybe only a second after performing the weapon's lever action to load another bullet into the chamber. While the Raider was busy pissing on the merchant, Rem only saw the trajectory. Bang, another sound resonated throughout the distance, and another raider went down. He hit the floor with a hole in his chest, because a body shot would be the easiest.

Then, the establishment went into a flutter. The raiders were already on their feet, the four that were left, at least, and were moving behind cover. One of them looked towards the merchant and saw that one of his friends was on the floor. "The fucker's here for the merchant!" One of the others yelled subsequently, "Grab him!" The one closest made a bee line for the merchant, and when he did, Rem already had his iron sight aligned with the space between them and the merchant. Bang, another shot, another body shot, and the raider hit the floor unable to breathe. His lung had been pierced. He was right, and because he had foreseen what they would do, he only had three more scum bags to go, and furthermore, he didn't have to worry about any of them going for the merchant anymore.

"Oh shit! They're using him as a lure!"

Rem stood up and began strafing around the establishment. He popped up around a predetermined corner, lowered on one knee, pointed the trail carbine, and pulled the trigger once his new angle had been established. A female hit the floor this time, screaming in pain while Rem pushed the lever out towards the tip of the barrel and pulled it back, pushing the next bullet into the chamber. He had only used four shots, so he had four more for two targets, which he figured was more than enough. With that, he began strafing towards the eastern side of the establishment, right behind the merchant, and he waited. "Hey, we give up man! Just let us leave!"

"Fine!" responded Rem, "Go!" There was a pause, "Are you sure! You better not shoot at us!" Rem aligned the trail carbine, "Get the fuck out of here!" One of them ran out, ran for a couple of seconds while Rem spotted him, and fired. The guy was shot in the back and he fell to the floor. The other, who was just running out of the establishment, ran back in and took cover, "Hey what the fuck! You said you wouldn't shoot!" Rem yelled back, "Get the fuck out of here or I'll kill you!" The raider almost ran again but stopped himself, "**Fuck** you!" He fired out in random directions with his 10mm submachine gun, but when he didn't get a response, he didn't fire anymore. Another stalemate ensued for about a minute, during which there was nothing but silence. The raider eventually started whimpering, "Please man . . . let me go . . . " he hugged his knees close as he looked at the lifeless gazes of his dead friends. "I don't want to die." A second later, the wall behind his head was stained red, and the bullethole in his head let blood flow through. It was over.

The merchant had been barely conscious when all of the noise occured. All he remembered was a warm, trickling feeling running down his chest and his face before it all happened. He heard people screaming, in pain and then at one another, and then everything went silent again. One last shot reverberated in the surroundings and moments later, he heard the sound of gravel crunching beneath a lax seriatim of steps that grew louder and louder as the steps got closer, until they stopped right in front of him. It was time to wake up, and he did. He slowly came to life, turning a pair of squinted eyes skyward to see his savior, the fellow who he had sold the trail carbine parts to hours earlier. "You . . . "

While Rem strapped the rifle to his back with a special noose, he examined the merchant without putting a hand on him for obvious reasons, "You need a mercenary to travel around with you. Anything broken?" Rem knelt down in front of him and the merchant simply stared at him, breathing heavily for a while before he tried to move. When he didn't feel any sharp pains, he shook his head, "No, the bastards just roughed me up, but . . ." Rem stood up and moved around until he was behind him, and subsequently untied him. The merchant pulled on the ropes and began feeling out his chest, where he had been shot. When he pulled his shirt aside to see the aftermath, he saw that there was a hole, but the pain was odd. The bullet hadn't pierced the chest cavity entirely, likely because of the armor he had been wearing when it happened. "I'm hit." Rem circled around him and took a look, "The bullet is embedded in the chest cavity. If you have some med-x and some whiskey, we can get you fixed up." The merchant nodded, "On the brahmin."

Rem brought the brahmin closer to its owner and after wrapping a piece of cloth around his hand, he took the guy's arm and helped him up. Afterwards, he helped him onto the brahmin itself, "Sit tight." Rem went off to pillage after that, looking from one raider to the next to see what he would find. Three varmint rifles, which he left behind, a 10mm submachine gun, a cowboy repeater, and a laser RCW. The latter three were picked up and brought along with him, but not because he intended to use them, but because if they were made to be in full condition later on, they could fetch a hefty amount of caps. Aside from that, he found the regular stuff. A dose of psycho and some jet, which he left behind. Once he returned to the merchant, he was leaning forward, almost lying down on the brahmin, and Rem took the reins. Thereafter, he began leading the brahmin in the direction of his home.

It took less than an hour to get there and when they did, he moved to the doorknob and got a real close look at it. It was still wiped down, and the radio inside was still on the same station he left it. So, with that, he unlocked the door and moved inside with the rifle aimed. When nothing came out to shoot, he turned around, unpacked a bed roll, laid it on the floor, and helped the merchant onto it. Rem placed his rifle on a table and when he came back, he was holding two bottles of water. "Here," he set it down beside the merchant, "Clean up your chest and I'll be back in a moment."

When Rem returned, he had the dose of med-x, the whiskey, the tweezers, the needle and the thread. The merchant had cleaned up his chest as best he could but when he saw what Rem was carrying, he groaned, "Shiiiit." Rem removed his trench coat and hung it on the rack along with his hat, and then he got to work. "Sit back. The med-x will help," he reached out and cleaned a portion of skin with the whiskey. After that, he stuck the syringe inside after sterlizing that, too. "That's that. I'll be back in about ten minutes," he headed outside again with his trail carbine. There was an irradiated river about forty yards from his home that was occasionally infested with mirelurks or lakelurks, and he needed the water.

When he returned ten minutes later, he was carrying two buckets of water, which he drained into the tub in the bathroom. It was enough to fill it up about half way, and after that, he used a bag of radaway and two doses of rad-x to lower the radiation in the water. A bath, which the merchant would sorely need once all this was over with. When he emerged in the living room, the merchant was lying there in his bed roll, breathing calmly. "Feeling drowsy?" asked Rem, and the merchant nodded in response, "By the way, what's your name?" The merchant answered, "Casey." Rem knelt down, "Alright Casey, here we go." He dipped the tweezers in alcohol, poured some of it into the wound, and began digging for the bullet. In response to the intrusion, Casey gritted his teeth, "Ahhhgh . . . shit." The next thing he heard was a thud, something landed on the wooden floor, and Rem poured whiskey on the wound.

"It's out, now here comes the needle," he began stitching the wound closed, and Casey squeezed his jaw closed until it was over. "Ffffff . . . fuck. That hurt," Rem submerged the tweezers in some whiskey and began cleaning up, "All done. There's a bath ready in the bathroom, just don't try to get much of anything on your chest. Use a towel for your chest." Casey sat up, and he realized that with more time that went by, the less it hurt. "So, what do I owe ya?" Rem threw away the med-x syringe and responded promptly, "We can start with a resupply for what I used to save you, which is six rounds for the carbine. And a discount on future purchases." Casey's lips dipped at the corners but he shrugged, concluding that it was a small price to pay to still have his life. "Done deal."

It was going to take a few days for Casey to heal up and be ready to travel again, so Rem decided that there wouldn't be any harm in letting him stay until then. As it turned out, they each had a rather easy time striking up conversations with one another. They could exchange perspectives for hours, disagree and agree on things on a mellow basis, and warn each other when it sounded like something might be headed their way. "You've got yourself a laid back lifestyle," said Casey, leaning back against the wall under one of the windows. "Yeah, but it gets old after a while," Rem responded, pouring himself a drink. Casey tugged aside the curtain and looked up to the sky, noting the reddish sheen across its expanse. The twilight hours were upon them, "Maybe for you. I could live like this forever. I'd have to get a girl though."

Rem threw his head back as a shot of whiskey trailed down his tongue and into the depths of his chest. Casey continued while Rem had his eyes closed, savoring the feeling the alcohol left him with, "I'm leaving, by the way. Tonight." Rem placed the shot glass on the table and nodded, "Night person, huh?" Casey breathed in and out, pressed his lips together, and nodded, "Feel safer that way." Rem glanced in his direction as he turned the radio on. Ella Fitzgerald came on, with her heart grabbing voice, and Rem responded, "Cazadores come out at night, and so do night stalkers." Casey shrugged, "I get along better with animals than I do with raiders, to be honest with you. Couple of times I've saved my skin by tossing food at them. Got away while they chewed on the scraps I had with me."

"Hah, not bad. I suppose you can't do that with raiders." Casey shook his head, smiling, before Rem added more, "Dose of psycho, maybe." Casey started laughing heartily, "Yeah, maybe. I'll remember to give that a shot next time." Rem smiled, amused clearly, which didn't happen too often when he was by himself. There was a pause for a couple of long moments, and just when the sound Rem made when he was screwing the cap back on the bottle of whiskey broke the silence behind the music, Casey spoke, "So, how'd you get so good with a rifle? There were six of those dickheads and you spent one bullet on each of them." When Rem heard the question, it damn near convinced him to open up the whiskey and take another swig. Any more, however, and he'd be in danger of turning this mellow buzz into something more hazardous. So, he didn't let himself.

He didn't answer, however, for a while. He fiddled with the bottle of whiskey, raising it and lowering on the surface of the table beside him, creating consistent taps until he tapped it against the surface one last time, louder than any time before. Didn't look like it was an easy question to answer. "NCR training," he said, slowly and with a bit of disdain. Casey's eyebrows rose, "Oh, shit. Couldn't tell, honestly." Staring at Rem, he took the time to consider what he had just heard. Clearly, Rem wasn't in the NCR anymore. Why? "Got laid off for a lack of work?" Rem smiled again, because of the sarcasm, and shook his head, "Didn't reenlist." Casey wasn't satisfied with the simple response, but he was starting to feel uncomfortable asking questions. He had come pretty far though, so why not? "Why?"

Rem shook his head, "It was all I wanted at first, I guess. Democracy, helping and protecting people, but then they started putting themselves before the people they were protecting. HELIOS one, the Hoover Dam, all of those places, it was the NCR's intention to route the power they got from them to the strip and Camp McCarran instead of the whole regional area. At some point in time, I was stationed near a town that was being terrorized by raiders and instead of getting the green light to help the townies out, we were told not to interfere because the town wasn't under our jurisdiction, and some other bull about it not being worth the resources." He opened the bottle of whiskey subconsciously but quickly closed it again, "The larger the NCR got, the less it represented the foundation on which it was formed. And when I noticed all the little things like that, I didn't reenlist because I decided there had to be something better out there."

Casey nodded, opened up a bottle of purified water, and drank. When he was done, he made a suggestion, "Followers of the Apocalypse?" Rem shrugged slowly, "Thought about it for a while, but they're not the kind of proactive I'm looking for. They're never really willing to get into a fight. Besides, a group like the Followers is better off not making the kinds of enemies that'll shoot at them. They're not treated so badly to start off because all they ever do is help people, and they'd be smart to keep it that way." Casey nodded slowly, "Makes sense." Rem looked like he was in a bad way when he thought about it. All that strength with which to change the wasteland but no venue. Sad, really, but it wasn't his fault, "Just so you know, you did some good saving me. From now on, if it's in my power to save someone decent in the wasteland, I wont hesitate to do it." Rem nodded slowly, staring blankly at the floor, "Good." When he snapped out of it, he leaned back into his chair and exhaled. It was actually a pretty good thing to hear.


	3. Ch 3: Foreboding mysteries

Chapter 3: Foreboding mysteries.

Night time had arrived. Rem was standing in the door frame, watching as Casey loaded his things onto his pack brahmin. "I'd stay away from that area. There's no telling if their friends came looking for them," Rem said, as he crossed his arms over his chest. Casey continued doing what he was doing but he responded while he did, "Definitely. You couldn't fuckin' pay me to go down that way again." Rem responded, "Yeah. About fifty yards east, there's a river. Water's irradiated and frequently inhabited with mirelurks and lakelurks, so I'd stay away from there, too." Casey nodded to that one, taking in every bit of information he needed, "Thanks. Gonna head south east, try to circle away from that raider encampment southwest, and make my way towards Westside." Rem nodded, agreeing with the plan.

Before long, Casey was done, and when he was, he walked towards Rem and extended his hand. Rem reached out and shook it firmly, "Stay safe." Casey responded, "You, too. I'll see you in about four days. That's about when my route will bring me out this way." Rem smirked, "It'd be a good idea if you have a mercenary or two with you when you do." Casey shook his head because he clearly wasn't all too excited about the idea of ever having to have a mercenary around, "They don't work for free." Rem disagreed with the logic wholeheartedly. What's wrong with spending a few caps for a little bit of insurance? "Too stubborn, Casey. Even now you're still not convinced you should have one?" Casey let go and smiled, began walking towards the brahmin, "We'll see." He took the reigns and began walking away, southeast, and he waved a hand over his shoulder at Rem.

When Casey was out of sight, Rem stepped back into his home and sat down on a chair. He kicked up his feet right next to the radio after turning it on, and went back to the same thing from before. He started thinking to himself, nearly having mental conversations, and spent his time making sure his trail carbine was in proper working order. He'd push the lever towards the tip of the barrel and pull it back towards the butt as slowly as he possibly could, listening and feeling out the action to see if there were any kinks in the motion. Nothing. After that, he made sure it was as clean as it needed to be inside. When that was over, he brought together the 10 mm submachine guns he acquired from the raiders, took them apart, and used the parts that were in best condition from either of them to make one. Looked good. After that, he set the Laser RCW in front of him and began prodding at it. The only energy weapon he was acquainted with was the pulse gun, so he had absolutely no idea what he should do with the energy weapon.

The next few days, he spent his time trying to learn as much as he could about the laser RCW. He took it apart, and then he took all the time in the world he needed to put it back together, unsure of whether or not it would work after what he had done to it. The days had blurred together between the guns, the whiskey, the music, food, and water, and before he knew it, he heard something trudging towards his door. Casey arrived, and when he did, the first thing he heard was the sound of the trail carbine's lever action, letting him know that whoever was inside was armed and ready. He smirked, because the more he knew Rem, the more he realized that the guy was actually very good at reading the psychology of an imminent gunfight. "Relax Rem, it's me."

Rem went through the usual ritual of looking through the windows to see if Casey was being held hostage. What he saw was a little surprising. Behind Casey, there was a mercenary. Cute little thing, probably in her early twenties, brandishing a Plasma Rifle. Despite the unarming details of her dainty face, she looked a little mean. It must have been her eyes. Looked like she had killed people before, and didn't have a problem with doing it again. When the door opened, Rem glanced at Casey and at his mercenary, "You made the right choice," Casey responded quickly, "Damn right I did. Just last night we were attacked by a fire gecko. She made it look easy." Rem looked behind his shoulder at the mercenary, who was glancing at him blankly. Just here on business, that was the feeling he got from her.

"If you have some radaway, I'll take at least four packs," Rem said, and Casey nodded. "That it?" Rem frowned a bit, "Haven't spent any ammo since you left. I as actually wondering if you wanted to take this thing off my hands," he went inside and came back out holding both the RCW and the 10mm submachine gun. Maybe Rem was just really damn perceptive, but he saw a twinkle. Like a star in the sky, in the corner of the mercenary's eye. He turned to look at her, "That Laser RCW doesn't look too bad. I've got one that needs repairs," she said, butting into their conversation. Rem responded promptly, "Fifty caps," she responded just as promptly, "Deal." He handed her the weapon and took the caps, turning to glance at Casey.

"Well, maybe you'll want to buy more after I've told you some news," Rem's attention was grabbed immediately, and he leaned up against the door frame to listen. "There's a new follower's outpost near Ranger Station Charlie. Know where that is?" Rem nodded, "Close to Novac." Casey nodded, "Exactly. I know someone there I owe a favor to. She patched me up once. Recently, supplies were sent their way from the Follower's Outpost in freeside, but it never arrived. They're not running low on food and water, but they don't have the supplies they need to help people in the area. They're not asking for another resupply out of fear it might get attacked again, but they're looking for someone to check out the situation. Do you wanna do some good?"

All of a sudden, Rem felt frustrated. God damn it, why? It still felt like it wouldn't make the kind of difference he was looking to make. But if not that, what? Should he stick around here, doing nothing, wasting years of his life? "I'll do it," he said, exhaling, as he leaned off the wall. "Thirty rounds for the carbine, four stimpaks, two doses of med-x, and two bottles of whiskey," he said all of this while he headed inside. When he came back out, he had his brown trench coat on, a white v-neck t shirt with a light chest plate strapped beneath, a pair of jeans, and some brown, dirty boots. He also had a duffle bag, filled with purified water, food, five hundred caps, and some of the stuff he had just purchased from Casey. After paying him, he closed the door behind him and strapped the trail carbine onto his back.

"Tell Sandra Williams I sent you." Rem nodded to Casey, "Don't come around in the next three weeks. I wont be here. See you around," when he walked past the girl, he nodded to her, and she nodded back. Casey headed in the complete opposite direction from Rem, and it didn't take too long for either of the two parties to lose sight of one another. "Who is he?" asked the girl, and Casey responded. "His name's Rem. Ex NCR. He's the one that saved my ass from the raiders." When the girl heard the words NCR, she sneered. Immediately, she didn't like the guy, "A pack of raiders isn't too hard to take care of. Wont have to worry about any of that with me around."

It hadn't been long since he had traveled in the wasteland, but it had been a long, long time since he had traveled a long distance like this. Regardless of that, he felt so very familiar with the terrain, and with every aspect of it. The harsh sand, the barrel cacti here and there, the possibility that in the near distance there might be danger, and most imposing, the raging sun in the sky. Man, it was hot, ridiculously so, but he had brought along more than enough water with him. What he knew best about traveling was that he had to do everything, like be vigilant and watch his step, thoroughly but calmly as well. If he stressed himself, he'd sweat more, he'd need to drink more water, and he'd have to spend more caps along the way than he should.

He found a traveling merchant at some point in time and bought bandages from him, along with a pair of tweezers, and he also found an enclosed, abandoned establishment with mattresses inside. He took one to the roof and slept there, got himself the rest he needed, and continued onward at night. At night, it was different. It wasn't hot anymore, but the night had tendency of hiding things from view, so he was a lot more attentive. It was the trade off for it no longer being hot, even if the cold state of the wasteland was a bit of a problem as well. The trench coat did a great job of keeping him warm, however, and so did the activity of walking the entire way. Eventually, his attentiveness caught something in the distance ahead. Something fluttered.

Rem began looking for places around that were higher than normal, and he found a gas station, so he moved towards that. When he reached it, he used a car to climb up onto the roof, and from there, he crawled to one edge of the roof. He looked ahead and saw three Cazadores, fluttering from left to right quickly and abruptly. His fingers itched when he saw them, and he even smiled a bit. Coyotes, night stalkers, geckos of any sort, and even Deathclaws, were easy to snipe because they were either larger or they didn't move around much unless something was bothering them. Cazadores and Bloatflies, however, were a whole different deal. Cazadores crawled from left to right incessantly despite their ability to fly, looking for something to prey on, and Bloatflies fluttered in the air like small leaves, nearly impossible to snipe. This was the best sport, however, and he was halfway ready to begin target practice before his practical side took over. Might need the ammo later. Besides, there'll be a return trip.

After pulling away from there, he began traveling a different way, putting distance between himself and the Cazadores, and avoided them entirely pretty easily.

It was five am when he arrived. A couple of minutes past, actually, and when he got there, he made sure to hold his hands up for the guards to see. When they saw that he was arriving peacefully, they let him get close. "Hey, welcome to the Followers Outpost. You hurt?" Rem shook his head, lowering his hands to his sides as he did, "No, I'm here for a job. I heard you guys are having a supply problem." The guard nodded, and he was just about to open the door to the outpost when it opened by itself. A blond with her hair pulled back and rolled into a neat bun stepped out. She was in her late thirties, likely, and she wore glasses. She also had a beauty mark above the left corner of her lips. "Who told you?" she asked, with a voice that commanded respect.

Rem glanced up at her from where he was standing, because he'd have had to climb a ladder to get up there. "Sandra, I presume?" The blond nodded, "Casey sent me. The merchant," when she heard the name, her eyebrows rose and she smiled. "Ah, Casey. Yes, did he pay you, too?" Rem shook his head, "Nope. I'm flexible though. If not caps, then medical supplies. If not medical supplies, then a future favor, but medical attention once the errand is complete is a must." Sandra put her hands on her hips, displeased and pleased with Casey all at the same time, and she smiled after a while, "Well, we've got a small amount of medical supplies, but we should be able to provide help with what we have when you get back. We don't have too many caps, so it'll have to be a . . . favor," the way she said the final word sounded odd. Intriguing, actually. She was hitting on him.

"Favor it is," he responded, "Now, can you give me the details on the errand?" Sandra raised an eyebrow, "You're not going alone, are you?" Rem nodded, simply, and that was it. Sandra looked a little less impressed all of a sudden, "We're not looking for someone to die on our account." Rem responded sharply, "I'm doing this on _my_ account. Give me the details, please." She didn't say a thing for a while, but when she realized that he wasn't just going to sigh in defeat and ask her nicely, she gave in instead. "The supply was coming along the northwest, over there. They radioed in from one of our safehouses and it shouldn't have taken them another day to get here, so they have to be somewhere between there and here. I'll give you the coordinates of the safe house." She climbed down the ladder, turned to him, and handed him a paper. He took it gently and looked it over, "I'd like to get some sleep and head off at noon." Sandra nodded, "Sure thing. We have bunk beds up there."

Once he was inside, he saw that there were five injured people in the care of the doctors. Two of them were young teens, and the others were adults. They were in stable condition but they needed more attention, which would take up medical supplies that'd be gone soon. So, he didn't waste much time getting into bed. When he did, he took his hat off and placed it over his face. The duffle bag was placed under the bed and the rifle rested on the bed beside him, too. Didn't take him long to fall asleep. Trekking the way he had took a lot out of someone.

Rem slept peacefully, and he even had a dream. The dream was about Santa Clarita, and the days during which it was a relatively safe place to be in. He dreamt up his mother and father, his then girlfriend, and a lot of other things that were good about those days. But when he woke up, he felt someone standing over him. At first, he was scared, but then he heard the sounds of the outpost. Doctors talking amongst one another, patients talking, all in the background, so whoever was standing there couldn't be someone he had to worry about. He removed his hat from his face and looked up to see a pair of hazel eyes staring down at him. One of the young patients, with bandages wrapped around her head. They locked eyes and neither of them said anything for a couple of seconds.

"Sir," she began, "Are you going to get us the supplies?" Rem sat up, turned his body to face her, and responded in kind, "Yup. When I'm done, the Freeside outpost will be clear to send you guys some supplies." The little girl smiled, and Rem placed his hand on her shoulder. He would have placed it on her carpet of black hair, but he knew it'd probably hurt her head. He had to wonder what may have happened to her but honestly, it'd be a little cruel to ask a little girl to explain it. So instead, he put his hat on, grabbed his trail carbine, and stood up from the bed. After putting on the brown trench coat, he glanced at the girl and said, "Don't cause any trouble around here and everything will be alright." She nodded fervently, "Yes sir." She watched him head out the door with a duffle bag on his back.

When he reached the floor after climbing down the ladder, he looked around, stared into the distance in every direction, and settled his gaze on his destination. He saw a wall of hills, some larger than the others, and that was where the safehouse was. It was a good place because wherever in there it was, it was hidden among the hills. Places like those, however, could become inhabited with a slew of creatures, so he figured it must've been the work of some local wildlife. That is, _if_ in fact they did get attacked. Plenty of times, he had heard about supply crews taking off with the supplies they'd been asked to transport, and it was possible that it might have happened here, too. Well, he'd find out soon, he thought, as he began walking.

It was a little difficult to find a trail to climb places like these. A lot of the time, they were a pain. Horribly inconvenient because he couldn't reach every plateau in sight, and if it just so happened that he had to kill some geckos to get around a mountain to find something on the other side, there was nothing he could do about it, and right now, he didn't want to make a noise. At this point, both the duffle bag and the trail carbine were on his back, which was inconvenient, because he knew he was likely in for a fight soon. In the case that he encountered something, he'd have to draw his weapon, which made him a little slower to respond, even though he trusted his noose tying abilities. All he had to do is pull on one string to loosen the weapon, pull it over his shoulder, and begin retaliation. But what if he was on a hill? Firing while he had to make sure he didn't lose his footing was uncomfortable.

When he reached a point in these mountains where there was flat ground, he kept himself low and surveyed the area. All he saw was the wind blowing, and no traces of any creatures. Good, he thought, as he pulled out the piece of paper and followed the coordinates. After a half hour of climbing around, he ended up above the safehouse. A wooden establishment, lonely as can be, but the door was wide open. Yeah, this wasn't a safehouse anymore. He stayed there for a few minutes, silent as can be, listening for anything that might be inside. Didn't seem like anything, but to make sure, he picked up a rock and tossed it at the roof. Thud, silence, nothing. So, he slid down the side of the hill and landed beside the safe house. He pressed up against the wall, tugged the noose for the trail carbine, and drew the weapon over his shoulder. He let himself become engrossed in the moment.

Those steps were utterly silent, nothing to be heard, not even sand crunching under his boots. He made sure his breathing was steady and not louder than usual, and he never sighed. When he reached one of the windows, he leaned in so very slowly, and looked inside for two seconds. When he pulled back, he knew he didn't see anything in there. He lowered below the window, grabbed his trench coat with one hand, and made sure it didn't drag too noisily on his way to the door. When he got there, he turned his body straight into it, held his rifle up, and saw something that chilled him to the bone. The place was a damn blood bath, but there wasn't anyone there. Just blood, on the floor, on the walls, on the mattresses, everywhere. Looked like something night stalkers or deathclaws might do. He lowered his rifle and stepped further in, scrunched his nose at the smell, and looked at the walls again.

"What the fuck?" Oh," he saw bullet holes, but for a moment, he had confused himself. Thought that whatever had done it had used bullets, but those were likely fired from the weapons of the Followers. Yeah, whatever did this must have been local wild life. There were no body parts left, so whatever it was had probably dragged its food back to its home, which was likely a cave tucked away somewhere in these hills. While he was walking, he knelt down and picked up a bullet case. 5.56mm rounds were fired, likely from some kind of rifle. Could have been a varmint rifle or an assault rifle of some kind. He let it fall to the floor and turned around, and just after he had looked past one important detail, he looked back at it. The radio, perfect.

They heard a voice at the outpost. "This is Rem, calling in about the supply situation." There was a pause but before long, he heard Sandra's voice. "Yes? What'd you find." Rem responded quickly, turning to face the door as he did, to make sure nothing would sneak up. "The Followers were attacked inside the safe house. Probably happened when one of them opened the door. Looks like it was some local wild life, but there are no corpses to be found. They put up a fight though, bullets everywhere." The moment he said that, his eyes settled on something else. Another bullet case, "Give me a sec." He paced towards it, knelt down, picked it up, and looked at it. It was a 10mm bullet case, which he concluded on his way back to the radio.

"Yeah, so that's the situation," Sandra nodded on the other side, looking definitely affected by the loss of people she knew. "Alright, listen, I need you to check something. There's a wardrobe cabinet on the west side of the safehouse. Move it. There's a hatch underneath. Tell me if the supplies are there." Rem responded, "Got it." He moved towards the cabinet and gently pushed it aside, making sound that he didn't really want to make. When he revealed the hatch, he lowered and opened it. There it was, the supply cache. He closed the hatch, pushed the cabinet over it again, and went to the radio, "Yeah, it's there. Stroke of genius, whoever came up with that." She responded, "Thank goodness." He heard her sigh, and before she could say anything else, he added, "Send one of the guards with a brahmin to wait for me at the base of the mountain where the safehouse is. When I'm done clearing out whatever's infested the place, I'll have him help me bring the cache down and we'll use the brahmin to transport it back." For Sandra, it felt like all of a sudden, things were looking up. Rem was starting to seem more and more like the godsend she'd been hoping for, "Okay." Rem added, "Send him in three hours."

A lot of people were around Sandra at the time, listening in on the radio. They seemd a little uplifted despite the fact that they had heard the supply crew was gone. "Oh, do you have any idea what kinds of weapons the Followers were carrying?" One of the other Followers responded before Sandra could, "I'll see if I can contact the outpost in Freeside." Rem heard it and nodded, before he started pacing around. As he stepped around, slowly, he nudged matresses aside with his foot, a curtain, and he found two weapons. A 10 mm submachine gun and a fully automatic assault rifle. _There they are. Now, if they match, the situation's clear_, he moved towards the radio and picked it up, "Get an answer yet? I have an assault rifle and a 10mm submachine gun." The Follower that radioed the Freeside outpost responded, "We're not getting a response right now. It's been like this for about six hours, haven't been able to fix it." Rem nodded, "Alright. Well, that's that. Time for me to get going. Rem out."

He set the radio phone down and headed out the door.

The Follower stood there, beside Sandra, silently. Then they heard static on the radio, and a voice, "This is the Freeside outpost. Do you read?" Sandra's assisant responded quickly, "Yes we read. What's going on?" The others responded, "Radio trouble. Just got it fixed. We could hear you but you couldn't hear us. Regarding the weapons question, each of the three members of the supply crew was carrying a 10 mm submachine gun." Sandra's eyes widened, she picked up the radio immediately, and yelled into it, "Rem! Rem!" By then, Rem was far enough away that he couldn't hear it. "Damn it!" she yelled, and then things went silent there. The idea that this bit of information could end up killing Rem frightened them, and not only could he die, but their hopes of retrieving the supply cache could be gone, too.

Rem walked along a dirt path, making sure he didn't lose his footing, and began his search for a cavern. Wherever there was a cavern nearby, he'd find the creatures responsible for this.


	4. Ch 4: Green eyed despair

Chapter 4: Green eyed despair.

Took him another hour and a half of searching. He climbed hills, trying hard not to kick so much dust off of them, and looked in the highest places and in the places that were tucked deeply between these earthen portrusions, too, and he found it up high, on a platform. When his eyes found the large, dark opening on the side of the mountain, he felt glad. He was doing good time, because in another hour and a half, a guard with one brahmin would be on his way to the hill base, and it would take him about two hours to get to the right coordinates. In that amount of time, he would deal with whatever was inside and even get a chance to relax at the safehouse until his contact arrived. One hand reached up to the ledge, and subsequently, so did another. Rem hoisted himself up to the platform, and the moment he did, the wind carried something foul into his nostrils. It was coming from within the cavern.

He sneered, clearly disgusted, and he scrunched up his nose again. It was like the smell he encountered in the safehouse, just worse, but the smell didn't chill him this time around. This time, he was ready for it, and it wasn't like he hadn't encountered the strench of rotting human flesh before. Oh, how eager he was to get this over with. Eager to get this over with without a scratch to show for it, though. There was one thing that he found solace in now as well, and that was in the fact that it wasn't going to be much of a problem to keep his footing while shooting. So, he didn't have to keep the carbine on his back. He reached up over his right shoulder with both hands. One hand tugged on the noose, loosened it, and the other pulled the weapon in front of him. His index finger slipped into the trigger hoop and the three fingers beneath that slipped into the lever hoop. There was a bullet already in the chamber, so he didn't need to perform the lever action.

_Alright, time to get this over with_, he began pacing in with light feet, looking to not leave so much as a foot print in the ground, and entered the confines of the cavern. It smelled worse inside, but when he considered that, he quickly put it in the back of his mind. He didn't want the smell to steal away his focus, and so he immediately began paying more attention to the sounds he made, the sounds everything else made, and the terrain ahead. Everything was silent, even while he was walking, just the way he liked it. As he walked, he stayed close to the walls, and he kept the carbine's long barrel pointed downward so that nothing would see the tip before they saw him, and every time he reached a corner that he had to turn around, he paced up to it as gently as he possibly could and peered around.

_Odd_, he thought to himself. It didn't look like anything had been dragged this way. By now, he figured he would have seen blood trails along the ground, or signs of something being dragged in general, but there was absolutely nothing. As he went through the possibilities of what it might be, the slow realization that this might not be a night stalker terrified. The only creature he'd ever encountered that had the physical capabilities to hoist someone up and carry them somewhere was a Deathclaw, and fuck, he was not ready for a Deathclaw. He stopped, his breath almost lifting further than he wanted it to, and began thinking about turning back. Before he was done contemplating, he pushed the flap of his trench coat open and looked inside. There were two frag mines, not enough to fight a Deathclaw or worse, multiple Deathclaws, by far. Likely wasn't even enough to give him a chance to survive, much less win. Furthermore, the Trail Carbine was a respectable weapon when facing geckos of any kind, humans, cazadores, night stalkers, but not Deathclaws. _Shit_, he cursed. In or out?

It was still early to conclude if it was a Deathclaw, however, because he'd never seen one exhibit the behavior of lifting anything up, but he was still so worried that it might be._ If not a Deathclaw, if not Night Stalkers, what the __**fuck**__ did it? _Wait a minute, maybe there was another cavern. Maybe he had the wrong one. _No, dumbass. It smells like someone's been dead in here for a while, so whatever did it is in here, or has been_. His inner monologue kept twisting and turning, looping over, shooting straight up before falling back down, and in the end, he had no fucking clue what was going on. Then all of a sudden, he knew _exactly_ what was going on. He was overthinking this. He had to leave, and he had to leave really fucking fast. He turned around and . . .

"_Grrrrr_ . . . " he heard, followed by breaths, and pebbles falling from the walls, somewhere towards the entrance. Whatever it was, he could _feel _it moving through the cavern.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck_, he panicked, but thank god for his previous experience with caverns, because he immediately conjured a plan of action. He turned back and began moving further into the cavern, away from whatever had come through the entrance, quicker than before. He remained standing up this time however, so his trench coat wouldn't drag, and he kept close to the wall so no tracks would be smack in the middle of the path. The trail carbine was held up this time, forward, and he'd shoot the brains out of _anything_ that was hostile. Didn't matter what it was, because now, he was in a fight, whether he'd been seen yet or not. The last thing he wanted was to trip, so while he was on high alert, he made it an undeniable_ fact _that he'd avoid stepping on something that could cause him to lose his footing.

Every inch further inside he was, every foot, was terrifying. He kept pointing everywhere sporadically, with his steps still as light as can be, and then he found himself aligning the iron sight with something humanoid. A human head, with bright green eyes staring back at him. A young man, trapped in a cell improvised from two shopping carts. And then another, a young female, with green eyes, too, staring at him, in the same predicament. They began making noises out of the tape around their mouths. Savior, they must have thought, but he lowered his weapon, pointed his index finger at them and whispered an intense few words, "Shut the_ fuck _up." Rem's eyes were wide and intense. He looked around afterwards. This was the end of the cavern, and he knew what he was looking for.

He was screaming inside of his head, wishing, hoping, _begging_ for a break, and then he saw it. A crawl space, a place that ants and other post war insects made a home out of, and enough to fit his body into. Fuck did he forget about staying as silent as possible. He moved towards it as quick as possible. He made sounds this time, but before long, he was inside. The two teenagers watched as he tucked his body into the hole, squirmed and scooted further inside, and they were scared again when they couldn't see him anymore. They were confused, was he going to help or not? Once Rem was inside, he turned his head to the cavern where the two teens were held and saw things he missed in his fearful stupor. Body parts, strewn throughout, and blood. Machetes, and bags. When he looked into one of the bags, he saw one blue eye staring back at him, swimming in a ball of human body parts and organs.

_What manner of fucking freak _. . . he asked himself, and then he saw it. Not a night stalker, and it wasn't a Deathclaw either, but he almost thought it was. It was tall, ten feet tall, actually, and he had seen these things before. A super mutant, green-yellowish, vascular, and with its teeth gritted tightly against each other. It had a vicious look on its face, and it was soon joined by more of them. Six more, actually, making a total of seven. Each of them was armed with either submachine guns, assault rifles, and one of them had a mini gun. What in the fuck had he gotten himself into?

In a few select places throughout his body, he felt some minor, stinging pain. The crawl space that he had gone into had small earthen spikes protruding from its uneven circumference, specifically the ceiling, and in his haste, some of them had gashed against his clothes. His left arm stung but it didn't bleed because the tip of the spike hadn't penetrated the trench coat he was wearing. His stomach hurt, too, and there was blood there forming above the small gash, staining his white shirt. Even his face saw some of it, but even as a thin trail of blood crossed the expanse of his cheek, he couldn't stop looking back at what was going on in the cavern itself.

They sauntered, these creatures. They carried their enormous height and weight with an ungraceful laziness, looking burly and slow like bears, and it was something that he remembered. Again, he had seen them before, but _never_ like this. This was positively the first time in his long stretch of life as an adventurer in the Mojave Wasteland that he had ever seen super mutants act this way, and there was something odd about their . . . skin color. The fatc that they were so different was what hit him hardest as he looked around and saw all the blood, saw all of the gore, and especially when he saw the vivid fear in the teens' eyes. They were sweating, quivering, and when he looked closely enough, he realized that not every bit of moisture on their faces was sweat. They were crying, too. The idea that he was going to help them was so innate that he didn't even consider that it'd be easier for him to get out alone, but how?

After all of the super mutants were done hoisting their oversized bodies into the last clearing in the cavern, one of them walked further than any of them, straight towards the two teens. The seconds slowed down, Rem's mind started processing the tense scene very quickly, and for a moment, it was as if the minds of the three humans were synchronized. Like mice faced with a snake in one small enclosure, their instincts brought them to wonder not when, or how, but _who_ was up next. The super mutant's eyes shifted from one of them to the other with all of the disgusting indifference in the world, and the two teens looked up with terrified eyes. _No_, Rem begged, as the super mutant reached out. When it finally grabbed one of the improvised cages, it felt like he had been waiting hours to see who it'd be.

_She_ turned to see, and started crying even more than she had been before as she watched the young man get dragged away, towards the rest of the super mutants. She started screaming through the tape, "HELP HIM. PLEASE." It came out muffled, unintelligible, and while she was screaming as best as she could with her mouth under wraps, she was staring in Rem's direction. He felt her eyes, and it didn't feel like any normal gaze that had ever been placed on him. He actually felt it settling in his chest and stomach, taking his breath away and making him breathe faster and harder than he wanted to to take it back. The female tugged and shifted her hands as fervently as she could, and she ignored the burning sensation that came from the friction of the ropes against her wrists. "DO SOMETHING," she yelled, but it all came out muffled. Rem understood what she was saying nonetheless.

When Rem looked towards the boy, he was crying, too. He was pulling at the ropes as hard as the girl. No, harder, because he was nearing the last moments of his life. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, his emotions pushed his body to a degree he would never be able to reach under any other circumstances. The ropes loosened, much to everyone's surprise. Moments later, his hands were freed, and he reached out just when the green freak was undoing the cage. His fingers gripped both carts, one with each hand, and he pulled back to keep it closed, unwilling to be taken out. "Pitiful human!" it yelled. The way it spoke made it sound more like an uneducated man that had only recently learned how to speak. "I'll crush your bones! And eat your brains!"

Rem watched with his eyes still wide, unblinking, and breathing hard. The super mutant stuck his fingers into the openings in the boys' cage and turned around in one sweep, dragging the cage along the ground, and releasing it in the direction of the others. The boy held on for dear life as he bounced around inside, but the cage didn't open. They all stared silently at the human's insolence after that, and then one of them had simply had enough. The one who had the mini gun stood up, taller, bigger, and meaner than the rest. The boy looked up, terrified, wondering what this thing was going to do, and then it simply kicked the cage in one surreal moment. When it did, it did so with such strength that the two shopping carts came apart, broke two of the boy's fingers, and freed him from the cage. He rolled towards one of the walls because of the force, and when he stopped rolling and opened his eyes, he was staring right into Rem's eyes, who was at arm's reach. Rem stared back, thrown aback by the situation he was just put into, and his hands started to shake. He twitched, almost reached out to grab the boys' arm, but he stopped himself. He had been in situations similar to this before, and this was what it resulted in. The experience manifested in a resolute kind of _control_ that he had been proud of for the past few years up until this very moment.

The boy, on the other hand, immediately reached towards Rem, hoping to be pulled into the safety of the crawl space, but all he saw was Rem pull away. _How could he _. . . Before he could crawl in, a large green hand grabbed his ankle and pulled him back. "You wont escape me!" one of them yelled. The boy reached up and pulled the tape off of his mouth, "Help me! Please! They're going to chop me to pieces!" The mutants ignored the statement, figuring he was randomly begging for help. Rem felt an intense tingling sensation in his chest. Surprise, but not at what the boy said, but because he saw one of the super mutants grasp a bloodied machete. _No_, he silently begged again, gritting his teeth. All of a sudden he pointed the carbine, losing control of himself. The barrel stuck out from the crawl space but nobody saw it, and he aligned the iron sight with the thing's head, ready to blast its head into two pieces. His finger hovered over the trigger. But . . . he realized again that this wasn't the right thing to do. This would be an early shot.

If he fired, there was no way he'd be able to get out of the crawl space and mount a successful attack before getting peppered with bullets, himself. "OH GOD," he heard, and then a piercing scream unlike any he had ever heard in his entire life resonated through the cavern, jettisoning into the wasteland outside, for nobody to hear. This thing, the super mutant, it started hacking, slashing, butchering the boy like he was beef. It was unsure if whether Rem's mind was blocking out everything but the boy's head, but all he realized he could see was his face, and he had his eyebrows furrowed while he continued yelling in horror at what was being done to him. Rem's hands continued shaking, the iron sight still aligned with the super mutant's head but then . . . he turned it away, and found himself pointing at the boy's head. Here was the correct shot, but he kept hesitating. _Don't do it_, he compelled,_ If I shoot now, we're all dead_. But why was he still pointing the gun? Why was he still so ready to fire? His humanity was clawing at him, evoking every shred of decency that he had inside, attempting to convince him to take the shot because that was simply the right thing to do. To end the boy's suffering. But . . . but, again, it was an early shot

The female screamed each time the boy did, and each time the super mutant swung the machete. It got worse when some of his blood landed on her, splattering across her pretty face. She eventually started to lose herself. Her mind was a mess. She kept thinking about how much it must have hurt, about how scared he was, and about how that man who had come in here earlier could sit by with his hands free without doing _anything_ about this. It was true. It really was true. Everyone in the wasteland . . . everyone, was on his or her own. There was no humanity, only survival, she thought. And then her muffled yet intense screams under the tape got softer, and eventually turned into nothing but delicate whimpers. She didn't have the strength, or no, she just didn't have the will anymore, to struggle.

The screaming stopped in a painful, pitiful squeal that Rem would never, ever forget. And when he lowered the trail carbine and looked, the boy was done. Blood all over the place, body parts left and right, and . . . and . . . greedy fingers . . . reaching for the remains. Rem couldn't believe it anymore. Quite simply, he couldn't. His chest bulged, and he vomitted into his mouth. The girl? She just watched. She stared, tears still streaming down her cheeks, quieted by the fact that there simply wasn't . . . anything else to hope for.


	5. Ch 5: Only a few breaks

Chapter 5: Only a few breaks.

Rem wiped his mouth with the sleeve of the trench coat and by then, the trail carbine had been pulled back into the hole. Beside him, there was a puddle of waste that he had simply been unable to keep to himself, and while his mind weaved and twisted tempestuously, more terrified than he had ever been in his life, he could hear the noises of the teen boy being devoured in the background. He had his back to them and he was clutching the trail carbine close to his chest. It felt pathetic to lay there with his legs tucked close, with the trail carbine held in both hands as though he was a child clutching the arm of his mother to feel safe, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He pictured the skin being bitten off the bone, and when he heard crunching noises, he pictured bones snapping, splintering, and then he pictured the boy's dead head. He almost threw up again, but managed to control himself. The smell eventually dragged towards him, too, mixing with the smell of rotting flesh. The new blood smelled fresh and heavy, and the old simply smelled . . . disgusting.

It took a while. Maybe about an hour, before the haunting noises stopped and made him feel like he could come out again. So he stopped doing what he was doing and turned his body without making a sound, casting his gaze to the cavern. He could tell the difference between the new blood and the old, but what hit him hardest was the remains. Especially the boy's head . . . with its empty eye sockets. Half of the face was missing and the rest was simply strewn about everything else, forgotten. Left overs that wouldn't be revisited. He turned away from it again, completely unable to continue taking all of this in. When he looked back, he snapped his head a little, looking only for the girl's face because that's all he wanted to see. She was sitting there, legs tucked close, back against the cage, with a gaze that had all of its fire extinguished. He pressed his lips together while he stared at her._ I can't . . . let it happen to her, too_, he said, within the depths of his mind. That was when he made one difficult decision.

If he didn't find the chance to do something to save both her as well as himself before she was eaten, he'd throw away his control. He'd shoot her, right between the eyes, and shoot as many of _them_ as he could before they noticed him. It had been hard enough to watch a young man die, and after seeing that, he just wasn't in any shape to watch a young woman die in the same manner. Additionally, he began to figure that every man had his breaking point. There wasn't a man on Earth able to deny his humanity entirely, and in the end,_ that _was going to be his limit. That would be the moment he threw all of life's lessons out the window. It felt right. He nodded to himself, lips still pressed together tightly, and his hands gripped the rifle. They stopped shaking.

_Alright you fucking abominations_, he thought hard, spiriting things to give himself the lift he was going to need to seize the opportunity he was looking for, _You guys don't know it yet, but you're all a couple of lucky moves away from giving me the edge I need to make you __**pay **__for this. _His teeth gritted, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt the goosebumps on his arms. He flexed his body a bit, moved his head, and his shoulders, too. He felt it, finally. He was still scared but he had gotten his killer's instinct back. Once he had it, it was pretty simple, actually. He knew what he was dealing with, and they sure as hell weren't deathclaws. They probably weren't as smart as people, but they thought on a more complex level than animals. All of that was assessed.

Still, the looming truth that they were going to have to leave to give him any kind of opportunity to do something to save he and the girl remained. He was going to have to wait, patiently, like he had gotten used to doing. The question to be asked, however, was whether or not they'd leave any time soon. Would they get hungry again before they had to leave? He wasn't religious, but he found himself thinking religious things._ If there's anyone up there. Anyone, anything, whatever, I hope you do the right thing. I need a miracle here_. Truth was, however, that even with a miracle safely tucked in his hands, ready for use, he'd still be hard pressed to believe that they'd make it. His eyes went small and he shook his head. And so, reluctantly, he started waiting.

An hour went by, and he watched them interact. "We must gather more humans!" one of them yelled, and another responded, "Yes, we must! But humans don't like coming here, to the mountains!" Their faces were odd, locked in the same position. It was an eternal sneer, with their teeth pressed together tightly, and they only slightly parted each time they spoke. "We must find somewhere else to go," added another. "But where can we go?" On top of sounding inept, to some degree, mentally, they spoke with an agressive growl. They all heard another voice then, "We will go closer to the vegas strip." The voice startled Rem, because it wasn't the same as the rest. It wasn't even close. It sounded refined, deep, but most startling, it sounded like it belonged to a man with a relatively good amount of sense. It was the biggest super mutant in the cavern, with the mini gun. The one that looked in charge. "There, we will find more humans to pick off, and more weapons." "YES!" responded another, "I want to eat more humans!" After that was said, the super mutant turned to the girl and started walking towards her.

Rem's heart dropped, but he was still holding the rifle steadily. He had made a decision, and he wasn't about to go back on it. So, he held it up, got ready to point, and continued listening. "I want to eat this one! Now!" Rem's eyes closed slowly and reopened, scared and at ease at the same time with what was going to happen next. _It's . . . over_, he feared. "We've just eaten. Don't make me punish you for being a glutton," said the biggest one. "Get away from her. She'll be of use later." Rem exhaled as softly as he could, in relief, and continued waiting after that. He was oh so patient right now, and he was wishing that just like had many times in the past, that it would pay off.

_Steady, Rem_.

In the outpost, Sandra was standing in front of the window, looking towards where the safehouse was. Her arms were crossed under her bust, wondering what she should do. She turned her eyes to a clock and then back out, and then one of her assistants spoke. "Sandra, it's been three hours," Sandra turned away from the window, "I know." She exhaled, but nobody asked her what she was going to do because they knew she was about to make a decision. "If he was done, he'd have radioed by now," the others stared solemnly, simply listening. "But . . . those supplies are important. I hope we're lucky. Send the brahmin." A guard nodded once and turned out, stepping out the door. Sandra exhaled again, and looked out the window.

It was getting more and more painful to lay there, waiting. It felt like he had been laying there, on his back, for the entire day, but it had only been a few hours. Honestly, this was the longest he had ever waited for a good shot, but the outlook was starting to feel pretty grim. It just . . . wasn't looking, at all, like he was going to catch the break he was looking for. He needed them to leave. Thinking about it, even if they didn't leave entirely but abandoned the last cave, the one the teen was encarcerated in, he could set up behind them and mount a respectable defense with the use of the frag mines. Even though it was likely he still wouldn't make it, if that was his only shot, he knew that from time to time, all a soldier had was bad choices, and the best he could do was choose the lesser evil, so he'd do it.

_How long has it been_? he wondered. _Least four hours now_, he figured, and by then, the guard with the brahmin would be close to arriving at the base of the hill outside, near the safe house. He wondered how long that person would wait, however. Hopefully, whoever it was would be patient about this. When he was thinking about all of that, he saw something. One of the super mutants picked up a large bag and when he set it down, some of its contents came pouring out. Stimpaks, water, med-x, random stuff, but the one thing that was completely out of place, was a mine. A bottlecap mine, to be exact. _Don't fuckin' tell me _. . . he thought, just as the bag tilted further. Another bottlecap mine came out, and that's when he figured out his next plan of action. He needed to get his hands on those.

_That's one break down_, he thought to himself,_ Just a few more breaks and I'll have a good chance. Leave, you bastards. Go outside_, he urged. Maybe they were there, pleased by the fact that they had one more human left, and for now, they didn't have to go hunt for another one. That was a worrisome thought, but it was possible that it was true. It was possible that all of this was futile, but he wasn't giving up until it was an utter certainty. He waited again. This time, his breathing was perfectly under control, his mind was focused, and he wasn't missing anything. He looked at the teen female again, _Hold on, just a bit. I'll save you, one way or another_. She was sitting, still awake, with dark circles around her eyes. Her long red hair was a mess and so was her face. She was dirty from hours, days probably, who knew, from being locked up, and she looked like she was just waiting.

Rem was laying there with his eyes aligned towards the ceiling of the crawl space when he heard something surprising. By then, he knew what it sounded like when one of them was dragging himself somewhere, so when he heard this, he knew it was more than one. He turned to see, and when he did, his eyes went wide, _Oh shit. Oh fuck_, _this is it_. He almost sat up entirely, but he stopped himself and kept himself calm. They were leaving. They were going towards the exit, and they had their guns with them. When he saw that, he closed his eyes tightly and pressed the barrel of the carbine up against his forehead. It took him a while, but eventually, he smiled. He wanted to start laughing, but then he heard something. Another one walking.

He turned to look and saw that there was just one left. Just one of them, watching over everything. _Damn it_, he cursed, silently. What was going to happen next? He started to think about it. There was just one of them, and he could risk coming out of the hole and moving around. If he tried his best, he might get his hands on the bottlecap mines and sneak back inside. If the mutant noticed him, it was just one, and he could probably neutralize it by himself, but he would make noise, and it was simply unknown if the ones outside would hear it. _Fuck. Leave, asshole. Go!_, thoughts continues as he gritted his teeth together, but when he sat down, he closed his eyes in disappointment. When they came back, it'd be over. They'd eat the girl, he was sure of it. _I'm fucking sick and tired of waiting_, he concluded, _I'm doing this_. He got ready to crawl out, and stopped. _Early shot, early shot, early shot. Stop_, he decided, and he did. _One more break, please. Just one more._

For the upteenth time, he began waiting again. This time, he didn't look away. He remained alert, listened, and decided that if he heard the others coming back, he'd eliminate the one in there with him and stage a defense. Yeah, that worked, so that's what he prepared for. A half hour passed by and he watched the last super mutant stand up. It stretched outward, made a growling noise, and spoke, "_I'm hungry_," it said, and Rem's eyes narrowed. How much could these fucking beasts eat? It started walking, and he didn't make much of it . . . not until it started heading out of the last cave. His eyes widened, _Oh my god, this is my break. Thank you, thank you, thank you_, he began crawling out.

As soon as he did, the female had her eyes aligned with him. He saw her, too, but then he looked back to where the super mutant had gone, and began his plan. _Okay, it's really fucking risky, but I have to do it like this. It'll give me the best chance of saving the girl._ He moved to the duffle bag and picked up one of the bottlecap mines. Perfect, he thought, after he considered if whether or not he should use a regular frag mine. Bottlecap mines packed more of a punch, and for this, he needed that. He walked past the girl, and her eyes followed him the entire way, full of disdain. _What the hell is he doing_? she wondered, weakly, unsure if whether she should care. He was going to save himself, not her. She had half the mind to start making noises to attract the super mutant.

Rem knelt down behind a couple of rocks and started moving them around with his hands, and eventually, he activated the bottle cap mine and set it down. _Okay_, then he paced back towards the duffle bag, but before he did, he stopped in front of the girl. He glanced at her for a long couple of moments. Then he exhaled, "I'm sorry for your boyfriend. But don't worry, we'll get out of this. We'll survive this." Really? Honestly? Something in her chest responded, tickling her almost, and she breathed. He saw life in her eyes again, "I promise. I promise the same wont happen to you." What was he? Was he here looking for them? Rem nodded to her, assuringly, and picked up a couple of rocks as he headed back to the duffle bag. He grabbed the other bottlecap mine and went back into hiding.

The girl watched him as he did, wondering what he was doing. If they were going to leave, they should do it now. She shook her head. He must've been lying.


	6. Ch 6: Worthless good

Chapter 6: Worthless good.

About five minutes later, the super mutant that had stayed with him in the cavern, returned. But it took about another twenty minutes for the others to come back. It was a little surprising, honestly, but it was certain that they hadn't gone far. If he had eliminated the one in there with him, they almost certainly would have heard a gunshot from inside the cavern. _Good choice, good choice. _He listened closely as he heard the sounds of six of them walking towards the cave. When they arrived, one of them spoke, "I'm hungry!" It yelled, and he knew this was going to happen. He had been so certain, but regardless of that, he felt the pressure sitting on him. He was sure he had to do something about this now So, he took one of the rocks he got his hands on earlier.

When the super mutants arrived, they all went towards a select area of the cavern and started taking off their weapons. However, just like the first time, one of them started walking towards the cage. The girl looked up at the thing, and her eyes went pink again. She started to cry, acknowledging that it was her turn now, and that the same thing that she had witnessed before was going to happen to her. Then, when none of them was looking, a rock flew by. It traversed the air between Rem and the super mutant that was going to free the girl, flew right behind his back, and hit some rocks to the super mutant's left side. When he turned to see, he saw another small rock, which had been on top of another, drop, like it had been dropped by something. "Hmm?" he growled, "What's that!" The rest looked at him, and Rem straightened out his clothes. The plan was in motion.

The super mutant started walking towards where he saw the rocks move, "It's a rat maybe!" it yelled, and as he arrived, he stepped over some of the small rocks. The girl watched him, closely, and then she realized something. That space, that place where the super mutant was heading towards . . . that was where the man from earlier had placed a bottlecap mine. She shielded herself immediately just in time for the super mutant to hear a click, and then . . . boom. The sound was jarring, caused the cavern to tremble, and the super mutants all closed their eyes in response to it. They shielded themselves, and by then, Rem was on the move. He emerged from the crawl space like a shadow, his movements obscured by the dust that had kicked up and the sound.

Rem pointed the gun as he run, aligned it with one of the super mutants, and once his bald green head was in the trajectory of the trail carbine's iron sight, he pulled the trigger with all of the enthusiasm in the world. Bang, the shot rang in the cavern a single moment after the explosion was settled, and the super mutant stopped moving. It simply fell to the floor. At that moment, the biggest one, the smartest one, turned in the direction of the escape and saw a human. A human! This man, he was running _out_ of here. He had been there the entire time! "Shoot!" it yelled, and some of the mutants turned. When the rest of them turned to see, Rem was halfway up the pathway towards cover, but before he got there, he turned around and started firing sporadically at as many of them as he could.

Some of them were suppressed by the gunfire, but not the leader. He picked up the minigun, pointed sloppily and fired. Rem dove towards cover, felt some of the bullets pierce the trench coat he was wearing, and stood up immediately after rolling a few feet. He lowered the duffle bag he had brought with him earlier and set a bottlecap mine right around the corner and started backing away. Then, he started running. "Get him!" the leader yelled, and the others started running up the pathway. Rem ran like he had never ran before, and eventually, he saw light. The end of the tunnel, and he set another mine there, inside some grass that was growing into the cavern. The moment he did, there was another explosion. He heard them screaming, and when he looked back towards the inside of the cavern, he saw a super mutant's arm land unceremoniously against the ground.

"Stop! He set up mines!" the super mutants listened to their leader and Rem responded, "Yeah, that's right assholes! I've got a couple of fucking surprises for you!" He knew he only had two more, but he wanted to make it sound like he had a lot more, to make them hesitate. And oh, did they hesitate. "Let's see you bald sons of bitches try to get me now!" He finished setting up the next mine, which left him with one more. One of the super mutants yelled, "I'm going to get you, and I'm going to eat you!" Rem smirked, "Fuck you! Eat shrapnel!" All the while, the leader paused, staring up the path with his eyebrows furrowed. They had completely forgotten about the girl. He started thinking, and in the background, he heard one of his three comrades, the three aside from him that were left, exchanging words with the human.

There was absolutely no way they could get up there without setting off the mines, and if they did, it was pretty damn clear that someone was going to die. Bottlecap mines packed a lethal punch, more so than frag mines, and that was what the human was equipped with. This was what he was thinking about as the exchanges between the super mutant and the human started to change, becoming less active, until the human, quite simply, was not answering anymore. His eyes widened, "HE'S ESCAPING!" The leader, absolutely infuriated with the idea that this human would get away with this, started walking forward without thinking much anymore. When he arrived at the assumed threshold of safe pathway and mineland, he grabbed one of his subordinates, and . . . tossed him, straight forward. "Master, no!" boom, another explosion resonated, and though the frag mine was weaker than a bottlecap mine, it dealt lethal damage to the mutant because he landed with his stomach on it.

After the explosion, the leader looked out and around, saw that there were no mines, and narrowed his eyes. This human, this bastard fucking human, he was damn good at bluffing. "RRRRRAAAAAHHH" he yelled, and the last two remaining super mutants watched in horror. "COME WITH ME!" The leader started running, with a velocity only a super mutant could achieve, and blitzed out of the cavern. The other super mutants followed suit, running behind him as closely as they could, almost entirely unable to keep up with their leader. "I'LL FIND YOU, HUMAN, AND I WILL DEVOUR YOU BY MYSELF."

Moments later, Rem pulled himself up to the platform of the cavern. They were gone, long gone, because of how fast they could run. He smiled. A couple of seconds later, the female heard steps. When she looked up, she saw the man from earlier, running towards her, and she stood up. Life pulsed through her veins again, and Rem started undoing the cage. When she was freed, he removed the tape. She didn't say a thing, however, and Rem grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go." When Rem ran, she followed.

When they emerged from the cavern, the girl squinted her eyes. She hadn't seen the light of day in something of a while, and honestly, she hadn't been expecting to ever again. It caused some discomfort, and after her hand was freed, she brought them up to clear them up. When she opened her eyes again, this man, this person who was attempting to save her life, was looking around the corner of the opening, checking to see if they were there no doubt. "Why didn't you do anything about Jesse?" she asked, relatively strongly, and Rem turned to look back at her. His eyebrows were raised but the look he gave her didn't mirror his inner sentiments of anger because the question was out of place. He was . . . a little daunted, actually, but he shook his head at her, "Now's not the time."

He grabbed her hand and started pulling her. The platform had a path, and on it, he saw the tracks that the super mutants had left behind. They were nowhere in the distance, and it looked like they had headed east. The safehouse was westward, so that's where he started heading. When they moved, he did so quickly, battling the uneven terrain of the hillsides they were getting around. The most painful thing about the situation was the fact that he had to put his rifle on his back so that he could help her as well as himself around, so if they were spotted, they'd get mowed down by the smart one's minigun like grass. He could have taken this more slowly and he could have been more calculating about the way he moved, but he felt that the benefit of getting away before being seen was the better payoff than being ready for a fight they still may not win even if they were prepared.

When they went over the first hill and slid down the other side, he felt infinitely more at ease. By the time the super mutants returned,_ if _they returned, that is, to the cavern, there was a daunting plethora of hillsides that their prey could have gone over. Which one was it? They wouldn't know, he figured. So the rest of the way, he was still worried, but the trek was safe. Because of their haste, they arrived at the safe house and he quickly pulled her inside and dropped to his knees, breathing harder than he had at any point in time during the mission. "You thirsty?" he asked, as he removed the duffle bag from his back. He set it down and handed her a bottle of purified water. She reached out to it, opened it, and started drinking like she hadn't tasted anything other than spit for a while. While she did, Rem moved towards the radio.

Sandra heard it first, because she didn't leave the radio at all. "This is Rem," he panted after he spoke, "Radioing in on the supply situation." Sandra reached for the radio so fast she dropped it. Rem heard something tumbling and then he heard her voice, disheveled as it was, but it was clear. "Rem! Rem! They had 10 mm submachine guns on them! The assault rifles are alien!" Rem shook his head in an extremely disappointed manner, "I know. I'm aware of that now. They were . . . super mutants. Fucking . . . " he paused, shaking his head as he took his hat off and wiped sweat off his brow, "They eat people. They eat humans." Sandra listened, surprised as Rem, "Really? Oh god, I'm so glad you're okay." Rem nodded, still breathing heavily, and he turned around to look. The girl was on the floor, watching him and drinking water.

"I've got a survivor with me, and I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to eradicate the problem myself. At least not now. I'll have to come back. Did you send the brahmin?" Sandra nodded, "Yes! Yes I did. They should still be there waiting for you." Rem nodded, too, his breath slowly steadying, "Alright. Alright then, we'll proceed as planned." Some of the other followers entered the room just as Rem finished speaking, "I'll radio in when we're transporting the supply cache. Rem out." He hung the radio up and started walking towards the door. The girl watched him, "So you're here for some kind of supply cache? Hmph." Rem stared at her for a moment, noticing the disdain she had towards him suddenly, "A supply cache that the Followers of the Apocalypse need to help some of their injured. Anyway, we have to go meet a contact. Let's go."

He headed for the door first, and the moment he did, he was shot.

When he felt it, he jerked his head to his left, felt a bullet land on his right arm, another bounced off his chest plate under his shirt, and another tagged him in the stomach. He felt another one had landed on his thigh, too, and his hat had been thrown off his head. He fell back, and the girl screamed loudly. "Agh!" he yelled as he fell to the ground. He gritted his teeth tightly, not even considering the extent of his wounds yet, and reached out with his leg to close the door. It slammed shut. "Come here!" he yelled, just as more bullets were fired. The minigun fire peppered the safe house thoroughly, blasting holes through the wall, sending whistling projectiles overhead as they both dropped, and making it feel like they were in hell all over again. "Come over here!" he reached for her, pulled, and pressed his back against a wardobe cabinet. Then, he pushed back, and the cabinet slid.

"Get in there," he said, as the minigun fired yet again, peppering the safehouse. He realized what was happening now. They weren't approaching, thank god, because of the possibility that he had lain mines around the house. _Good_, he thought, as he reached for the hatch where the supply cache was hidden and lifted it. The girl looked at him, "No! I'm not going in there." Rem didn't say anything. He reached over his back, grasped the trail carbine, and drew it to his front. She watched, but when he didn't say anything, she figured he wasn't going to try to convince her, so she looked away. Rem did that purposefully. When she wasn't paying any mind anymore, he smacked her with the wooden butt of the rifle. Robbed her of her unconsciousness, swiftly, and without making too much of a mess. After that, he dragged her limp body into the hole and let her drop. He dragged a mattress over it after that, and he heard something outside.

"Miserable humans! Did you think you would get away?" Rem gritted his teeth, and he heard one coming closer. They probably thought he was dead, but that meant they'd come in immediately. If he let them know he was still alive, they'd pepper the house again. "I _dare_ you to come in here, bunch of - - " he winced, "Bunch of** freaks**!" They did what he thought they'd do. The big one unleashed his minigun on the safehouse, and he lowered, covered his head, and closed his eyes tightly. The more he breathed, the more he thought. He was going to die here. He was.

While the bullets continued blasting the safehouse, he crawled towards the door, wishing and hoping that he wouldn't be hit, and when he reached it, he placed his final frag mine right beside the door. Bullets blasted a part of the door off and he rolled away from it. He tried to stand, but they wouldn't have it. He knew he'd be shot if he did, so instead, he dragged, like a wounded dog, and ended up on the western side of the safehouse with his rifle on his lap. _Didn't think it'd end like this_, he thought, as he rotuinely began loading bullets into the chamber of the trail carbine. When the eighth round was safely inside, he performed the lever action and simply . . . he waited. _Then again, how the hell else_? He looked towards the hatch while the bullets continued tearing the place apart. _At the very least, they won't get the girl. They'll drag me off, and she'll be free to escape on her own when she wakes up_.

Yeah, by the time this was over, he will have done some good. Worthless as it may be, he will have done some good.

The sounds of three super mutants walking down the cavern could be heard, and when they arrived at the last cave, they were all silent. The leader, the largest one, looked the angriest. He was breathing heavily, squeezing the minigun handle tighter than he ever had in his life, and began putting things down before he heard a call. "Master!" He didn't look immediately, simply because he was annoyed. He was fighting his urge to mow down his own subordinates with the minigun right then and there, but what was said next grasped him. "The human is not here!" He yanked his body around, snapped his eyes to the cage, and when he saw that the young human girl was not there, he absolutely exploded. "RRRRRRRRRRAH!"

He turned around and in the same motion, he swung the minigun at the other super mutant. After hitting him in the jaw, dropping him on his rear, and walking over him, he paced to the pathway that led to the exit of the cavern. This fucking human. This member of an inferior species . . . had bested him. He had been tricked, had been made a fool of, and he couldn't handle it. The veins on his head thickened, his teeth gritted tighter than they had before, generating loud, crunching noises. And then a simple thought, no, a memory, fluttered gently onto his mind. It landed like a feather on a pillow, so softly, so delicately, and what he remembered was . . . the safehouse. Yes, the safehouse. "Follow me!" he yelled, growling as he did. Then, he zoomed out of there, leaving dust in his wake, and the other two super mutants began following. "Yes master!"

Those animalistic, hateful eyes were focused on something else now. He had found this man, this _dog_, hiding in the safehouse with the young woman he had been planning on eating earlier. He was wounded, too, but not dead. He wanted him _dead_, not wounded, and then he wanted to decapitate him, place his head in front of him, and make it watch as he ate the body. Yes, that's what he wanted to do. He didn't release his finger from the trigger. The minigun kept spewing projectiles into the house without cease, and it was a long while before he ran out of bullets. "Here," he uttered, "Reload it." He handed the mini gun to one of the other super mutants and took his assault rifle. After that, he aimed at the windows of the establishment, figuring that the man inside would want to take a shot when his subordinate was reloading the minigun. Little did Rem know, the master of the super mutants was ready for that.

Rem looked out towards the door when it stopped. He also heard when the minigun was being reloaded, and he figured that this was his chance to get off a pot shot. No, he couldn't. He didn't have the dexterity anymore to get off quick pot shots and get into cover before being fired at. Those eyes, still exuding a calm light from them, turned to look at the frag mine. It lay there, quietly but lethal at the same time. "Say something," he heard, faintly, and one of the subordinates started yelling. "We're going to eat you, human!" Rem knew what was going through their minds. Well, not _their_ minds, but _his_ mind, the master. If Rem didn't attack while the minigun was being reloaded, or if he didn't respond, he was either dead or too wounded to respond. In which case, they'd come in. He thought about replying so that they'd waste more bullets. He'd risk being shot, of course, but when he realized it, he couldn't waste too much more time.

Again, he looked at the hatch where the girl was hidden. There was no telling how long she'd be unconscious. If she awoke now, it'd be a problem, so he needed this to end. And it had to end now. He gulped, didn't say a thing, and held the gun up. He was ready to shoot at the windows, because they'd probably look before coming inside. Then he heard one of them running towards the house. It was time. _Time to die, Rem. Make it good_. Listening to the sounds, it looked like he was closing in on the left window, so he aimed his weapon that way. But . . . but then he heard he went right past it, and ran right to the door. It was kicked down with a momentous burst, and Rem pointed the gun immediately and fired. Bam bam bam in rapid succession, the lever action was barely discernible amidst the shots, and then boom. The super mutant didn't even have a chance to point and fire.

He was blown apart. His legs came right off, shrapnel penetrated his groin, and he let go of the assault rifle. He had been lifted off the ground slightly, and when he landed, he landed unmoving. He was dead. That was it, the last frag mine was gone. Now, he had to wonder if the master would call his bluff and rush in, knowing full well that he didn't have any more mines, or if he would wait again and blast the safehouse with the minigun. Then he heard the steps. Two pairs, running towards the door. Two of them. _Shit_, he began firing before they got there, hopefully to make them hesitate. When two more shots were spent, he only had three more, and he knew it was, quite simply, over. He wouldn't have time to reload and he doubted he could end this with the three bullets that were left. One super mutant dove in, flashed by like a green shadow, and Rem dragged the trail carbine along the trajectory as fast as he could. The last three shots were heard, bam bam bam, and he was surprised to see that when it landed, it stopped moving. That was a miracle. A real fucking miracle. But then he turned to the door, and there he saw the tip of the minigun, and he lowered the rifle.

When the super mutant looked at him, it yelled, "IT'S OVER, HUMAN." Rem closed his eyes, waited, and he heard an odd sound. Something high pitched, and then some sizzling, and when he opened his eyes, the super mutant master was turning around, casting his gaze up to the hillsides in the west as he pulled the trigger. He saw smoke rising from his right side, and then he saw another shot. A green pulse of plasma hit the door frame and melted it. "Die, bastard humans!" His minigun fire peppered one of the hillsides, and a girl ducked beneath cover on the other side. She had short brown hair, blue eyes, and wore black combat armor. If Rem had seen her, he would have recognized her.

After that, he heard more gunfire, and it took him a while to take in what was happening. When he realized it, he shook his head very fast and dug into his trench coat and drew out more bullets. He started loading them into the rifle, and when three had been loaded, he used the lever to load the bullet into its rightful place. Then, he stood up, using all the determination that had rolled over since he had been wasting his life doing nothing, and started walking towards the window. He saw another green pulse and it landed on the super mutant master's shoulder. It hit an iron plate, burned it, and burned the skin below. The mutant yelled again, this time in pain, and fired back. Rem's heart tingled just then, realizing that they were going to win this fight. He aimed, but just as he did, the mutant turned to him . . . and pulled the trigger.

Rem dropped back, dust kicking out in every direction from his weight. Everything . . . changed, as he looked up at the ceiling. He let go of the rifle, and gulped.

Outside, the super mutant master was shot in the side of the face as he turned to shoot at Rem. He yelled as it burned one of his eyes, and then something else occurred. A brilliant green luminescence. His body was vaporized, inside the clothes he was wearing, and when he was nothing more than a pile of green, radioactive dust in the ground, his armor and his minigun hit the floor. Rem was still conscious for a couple of moments, and he turned to look to the door. He saw someone coming through it. Her features were hazy, but when she came closer and pushed some strands of hair out of her face, he recognized who she was. Casey's bodyguard. "You . . . "

Then his eyes closed.


	7. Ch 7: Grief

Chapter 7: Grief.

It was just like being deeply asleep. There were no dreams, no images in her mind, whatsoever, but when her consciousness returned and she realized she was sleeping, she snapped up. She was terrified all of a sudden, because it was dark, and she was laying on dirt. On top of that, one side of her head hurt. She reached up to touch it to see if there was blood, and there was. Just a little, so then she reached out with that same hand to see if she could feel anything else in there with her. Her hand smacked against an iron container, and then it only took a bit of remembering to see where she was. She was inside that hatch, the one Rem had asked her to go into, and the pain in the side of the head was from being hammered by a blunt object. Moisture started forming in her eyes again as she wondered what had happened while she was out. Was Rem dead?

"Is . . . anyone th - - " her voice gave out, from the fear entirely, and she started looking around for the hatch instead. It was right above the container, no doubt, and she pushed her hands upwards in that section. She felt the hatch give, but there was something on top of it. "Hmph," she pushed harder and the mattress came out, and she heard a woman scream. "Hey, who is that!" A push and a few hurried steps later, she was staring up at a plasma rifle, aimed right at the flat of her face. Her eyes were pink still, from crying, and when she looked up further, she saw a human female. It was instant relief, honestly. Then she saw another, a man, and he spoke, "Woah, here, let me help you up." His hand reached out to her and she took it. After he pulled her up, the female wasn't pointing her plasma rifle at her anymore. The man added, "How'd you get in there?" The girl, after putting her arms around herself and hugging closely, responded with a frail voice, "Someone put me in there. A man, a blonde. Where is he?" she asked, as she looked around for him.

Casey responded, "Rem. He's gone." After having responded, he stared at her features, studying how disheveled she appeared. Looked like she'd been through a lot. "What's your name?" Casey asked, and she responded, "Autumn." Casey continued glancing at her face, "I'm Casey, and this is my mercenary bodyguard, Gail." Gail stepped forward after her name was mentioned and spoke, "Here, let's go into the bathroom and get you washed up. There's a wastelander's outfit for you to wear in one of the lockers." Autumn nodded once, and started following after Gail. As Gail went, she picked up a bag with purified water bottles inside, and a towel. Casey watched them go, "Don't take too long. We should get going soon." Autumn snapped her head back to him when he said that, "Why? Are the super mutants still nearby?" Gail answered for Casey, "How many were there?" "Seven." "There were three dead here." Autumn felt quick relief, remembering that four had been killed in the cave. All seven were gone. "They're all gone then," she nodded, and went after Gail.

Gail let Autumn walk past her, and realized that she wasn't in great shape. Mentally, at least. Physically, she seemed okay. So, she decided that carrying her plasma rifle around wouldn't make things any more comfortable, and she set it down somewhere as she followed. Gail wanted to have something to say but each time she almost did let something come out, she got caught up in the way Autumn moved. It looked like she was somewhere else entirely, and her body was stuck somewhere between here and there. She thought to ask what had happened in that cave, exactly, but figured it would be cruel. She was right.

Autumn wasn't really there anymore. Now that she knew she was safe, she had lost herself amidst the memories of what had happened in the cavern. She saw Jesse's face with his mouth open, screaming wildly, crying, wishing it'd end sooner than later. She remembered how abandoned she felt, how much she felt like a simple nuisance instead of a human life when Rem stormed in and didn't free them immediately. Then she remembered Rem's face, and the calm facial features on his face even though he'd been shot multiple times. Honestly, even though he had saved her life, she didn't feel any compassion for him. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to appreciate his efforts. At all. It was because he had let Jesse die in such a gruesome way.

Her body sat down, looking like she was moving out of muscle memory instead of rational thought . . . and broke down. She started crying, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she began pouting like a child. She brought her hands up to her face and covered her eyes as she furrowed her eyebrows. She squeezed her fingers closed, bent her knees inward, and bellowed a deeply painful groan that could be heard throughout the safehouse. Gail was immediately startled by it, but watching her, she knew there was absolutely nothing she could do. So instead, she placed a hand on her shoulder and sat down next to her, "That's okay, let it all out. Take all the time you need to grieve." When Autumn heard those words, she cried louder. Gail could hear the pain in her voice, vibrating in her chest, dragging her into the same melancholy spirit that had gripped the person it was coming from. Casey, outside, was sitting up against a wall when he heard it, and it didn't sit too well with him, either.

It was an hour and a half later that Gail and Autumn returned. Casey hadn't spoken a word to them about hurrying up, knowing full well that Autumn needed all the time she could be afforded to balance her emotions out. Then, when he looked at Gail, his keen eyes saw something he hadn't ever seen her display. She was concerned. Honestly, he figured that she was the cold type, interested only in her work and nothing more, but she was genuinely concerned about Autumn. That was the kind of personality he could associate with her small, pretty face. And . . .that was definitely the kind of bodyguard he wanted to have. "Ready?" Casey asked. Autumn rubbed her nose and nodded quickly. Now that she was cleaned up, Casey realized that she was . . . beautiful. Her red eyebrows, arched cleanly over her brilliant green eyes, were attention grabbing. Her jawline was pronounced but smooth, and she had a long neck. A long, beautiful neck. And long red hair, too.

Casey nodded to the both of them, "Okay then, let's go." Casey moved towards the hatch, pulled it open as Gail put her plasma rifle on her back, and grabbed one side of it. The both of them pulled it out of there and began heading out of the door. Autumn followed, and once they were outside, she looked around. She saw two super mutants, both of which had been dragged out of the safehouse at some point in time, and something else . . . She saw a pile of dust on the floor, green, and she realized what it was. One of them, wait the master, had been vaporized. _Serves you right, monster_, she thought, almost bringing herself to cry again, but she spoke to stop it from happening. "Where are we going?"

Gail answered, "There's a follower's outpost about two and a half hours from here. We're bringing these supplies there." After that, Autumn didn't ask anything else. She didn't think about whether or not she should go or not at all, and she didn't even think about where she had been headed when she and Jesse were captured. She definitely wasn't going that way anymore, but on top of everything, if she had thought to again, the idea of traveling alone would have terrified her. She felt safe here, with Casey, and especially Gail. Casey started walking again, with Gail, and after struggling through the uneven hillsides, they arrived where they had left their brahmin. Another man was there, a guard. They packed te brahmin up and began heading to the outpost.

The trek to the outpost was easy. Easy in the sense that they didn't encounter any more trouble, but the entire way, Autumn was silent unless she was spoken to. Casey and Gail could both see that she was just thinking about everything, so for the most part, they let her be. When the outpost was finally visible in the distance, it was night time, but the lights were on. They could see a troupe of guards stationed at various points around it, keeping watch. Gail turned around to look at Autumn, "We're here. The outpost. It's safe there. They've got a ton of guards." Autumn responded, "I've met people from the followers before. They're generally nice." Casey chimed in, "Yeah, they are. Sometimes, they need a little help, too, though."

When they arrived, the guards acknowledged them and one of them descended from the ladder that would take them up to the post. "Glad to see you mad it back. We'll haul in the supplies, you guys head inside and take a breather." Casey nodded, "Thanks." Then he turned to Autumn, "Come on, let's go. I'm sure you're ready to get some rest." With that, all of them headed inside. Once they were inside, Sandra emerged from her room, "Hey. Took you guys long enough." Casey responded quickly, "We found a survivor. She needed some rest before we could get moving again." "Ah," responded Sandra, as she moved towards Autumn, "You're the survivor Rem mentioned when he radioed in. But you're not a member of the supply crew." Autumn clarified, "No, I was traveling with my brother when I was captured." The changes in the faces of Gail and Casey indicated something. They shed light on the fact that they understood, now, why she had been so devastated. Her brother was dead.

At this point in time, however, Casey nor Gail had any idea at all what, exactly, the experience had been about. Casey responded, "Rem radioed in?" Sandra answered with a nod, "Yeah, hours after you guys left." After she said that, she turned to look at Autumn again, and Autumn knew what kind of gaze was set upon her. It was compassion, but in her tumultuous state of mind, it felt more like pity, and she didn't need any pity. "Is there anywhere I can get some rest?" she asked, seeking for a quick venue of escape from the situation. She was afraid they might ask her if she could tell them everything that she knew, "Sorry to be so abrupt," she added, voice still frail. "But I just need some sleep." There was a pause between the four of them before Sandra responded, "Yes, of course. We have water and food, too, and are you injured?" Autumn shook her head, "No ma'am. And thank you, but I'm not hungry, or thirsty." It was hard, but she managed to feign a smile. "Okay, over that way," Autumn looked in the direction Sandra pointed, looked back at them all one by one, and spoke, "Thank you." Then she started pacing away. She felt the eyes resting on her back as she escaped.

After Autumn closed the door, more gently than a person normally closes a door, Casey approached Sandra. "I think you should keep an eye on her. There might be some trauma," Sandra nodded, and responded just as gently as Casey had, so that Autumn wouldn't hear anything. "Those super mutants . . . ate people. Rem also mentioned that to me when he radioed in." That was all it took. Casey and Gail, immediately, understood Autumn. It was such a heavy realization that they weren't even able to answer in exclamatory fashion. They both simply thought, Casey especially, and when he had compiled his thoughts, he said, "I see." Gail stood by, arms at her sides, and now that she could associate a reason with why Autumn broke down back at the safehouse, this was all so much more severe. Her brother had been eaten.

Autumn was laying in bed while everything was going on. It was a large bed, and the moment she stepped foot in there, she realized that this was no guest room. There was a dresser, some cabinets, a lamp, and other stuff. This was Sandra's room, no doubt, and the idea that she was getting special treatment from her out of pity settled bad with her. However, she did appreciate the loneliness of the setting. It gave her a chance to . . . cry, without having eyes on her, and she did. She found that it was so easy to now. All she had to do was look back and not distract herself. Immediately, tears would start trailing down her cheeks. _Oh god_, she thought, _Why did this have to happen_? She brought her hands up to her face and closed her eyes. Instead of darkness, she saw Jesse's face. Screaming. She whimpered, and stopped herself from getting any louder. Then she heard something.

"Sandra! He's awake! Rem's awake!" Autumn's eyes widened when she heard that. She vividly remembered when Casey said he "was gone," but . . . but, did he mean he had left? When Sandra heard the news, she turned towards the emergency room and headed there. Casey followed, but Gail stayed behind. Instead, she went into the barracks and started removing her combat armor. It had been a long day, and she was ready to relax. When Sandra and Casey went into the emergency room and reached Rem, they found him asleep. The doctor spoke again, "I swear. His eyes were open just now." Sandra responded, "Huh, well, I guess he's not doing so bad." Casey stopped at Rem's bedside and looked at his face. His eyes were closed and there was a mask over his mouth and nose, "If you hadn't sent the medical troupe, he wouldn't have made it." Sandra nodded, "One of his lungs almost collapsed. The other bullets, one in his right arm, another in his right thigh, and two others in his stomach, were negligible. Still though, it's a miracle he made it." Casey responded, "Nah, you're just really damn good." Sandra shook her head, eyeing Rem as she did, "And the supplies you guys brought in couldn't have arrived at a better time.

Maybe another two hours later, Autumn had cried herself to sleep. She lay on her side, knees bent up towards her chest, and she looked positively peaceful. She was, actually, until her grief drove her to dream ugly things. She dreamt up the situation she had been in, and though it was different in many aspects, it was still so terrifying. She saw herself running towards Jesse as he was being taken away, but no matter how much he ran, she never got closer. Then she awoke somewhere else. She was tied up, and she saw the super mutant master . . . plucking her brother's eyes out like they were grapes on vines. Her eyes burst open, but then they immediately went small. She started crying, sobbing delicately to herself, and she did her best not to make any noise.

_Is it ever going to end_? she asked herself. As she imagined that she would never get over this, she terrified herself. _Why did he have to die like that_? She wondered, remembering how Jesse reached towards the hole Rem had been hiding in. How did he feel when Rem refused to help? He must have been . . . so scared. Rem. Why? Because . . . he was a coward. If it were the other way around, Jesse would have helped. There was no way Jesse would_ ever _let someone die the way he himself did, so why should someone else let him suffer? She stood up, blankets dripping off her person, and she looked down. She wasn't sobbing anymore but there were still tears going down her cheeks. _Why_ . . .

She sat at the edge of the bed and continued thinking while she looked around. Eventually, she laid her gaze on a leather case. Looked like a doctor's tool kit, probably had scalpels in it. Scalpels. She stopped thinking and moved towards it. Then, she opened it and inside, she found a bonesaw, a medical brace, tweezers, and finally, a scalpel. She pulled it out of its strap and stared at the edge. She started feeling things, things that she couldn't disagree with in her discombobulated state of mind, and then . . . she simply acted. The door to Sandra's room opened, very slowly, and one green eye peered outside. Nobody, not even a guard. They were all outside. After all, nobody inside could possibly cause any trouble.

When she stepped out, her bare feet didn't make a sound when they touched the wooden floor. _He deserves this_, she began, as she continued moving throughout the outpost silently. _Jesse had too good a heart for it to end this way_, she gripped the scalpel, tightly, and her hand shook. Her inner monologue didn't show on her face. She appeared calm, but that was because she was focused on not making a sound. _Jesse, I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. But . . . but, this isn't going to just stay like this. I promise_, along with the emotions that were welling up, so did the moisture in her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheek when she passed through the last door. Ahead of her, she saw Rem, and she instantly looked at him with hatred, _There you are_. She seethed inwardly, her hand shook, and she almost screamed out her thought,_ It's your fault_! She approached him, without worrying about being silent any more because she was going to kill him anyway, and placed the scalpel up against his neck.

Her hand tensed, but she didn't drag the edge across. Why? _It's your __**fault**__ you bastard_! _You let him suffer_ . . . _Because of you, I can't stop hearing him scream_! _Why_? Her hand continued shaking, her mouth opened and revealed her gritting teeth, _How could you_? The moment lasted a while, with her hand quivering continuously, but the tensity of the situation faded away and left nothing but frailty behind again, as she gave up on this. Her hand went lax, the edge came away from his neck, and she broke down silently. Her shoulders lifted and rose continuously as she cried, looking away from him. When she looked back, however, she saw him differently. Rem's eyes were open, and he was staring right at her. Both of those blue eyes gazed into her green ones, ever so calmly, like he . . . like he didn't mind. Like he understood. Then, once she hadn't done a thing, his eyes slowly closed, and he went back to sleep.


	8. Ch 8: Whiskey blues

Chapter 8: Whiskey blues.

A few days later, Rem's eyes slowly came open. The room was dark, and he knew it was night time, but he had no clue at all how long he had been out. After taking everything about the room in, he wondered if anyone was awake at this time. He couldn't hear anything, not even any activity outside in the hall, or whatever was out his immediate door, to be honest. He thought about getting up but for the time being, he wanted to relax. He wanted to get used to himself. So, he moved his arms around a bit, pressed against the bed, and moved his legs. He could tell where he had been shot, especially when made the motion to sit up. When he did, he gritted his teeth and let himself lay flat on his back again. Yeah, he had been shot in the stomach, and . . . somewhere else. He hadn't ever felt this before. It hurt to breathe, and it kind of worried him.

"Hello!" when he tried to yell, it didn't come out as loud as he would have wanted, and it hurt, too, because it put pressure on his lungs. He looked to his side and saw a table there, with a glass of water on it. He reached out to it and pushed it with his finger. It shattered against the floor and water went every which way, with glass, and in the barracks, Sandra's eyes opened. She sat up immediately and when she did, she noticed she wasn't the only one who had awoken. Casey's eyes were open, so were Gail's, and some of the other doctors, too. "What was that?" one asked, as Gail and Sandra stood up. Casey spoke, "Sounds like it came from one of the other rooms." Sandra responded, "Yeah." They stepped outside, and they found two guards inside, heading into Rem's room.

Casey and Sandra followed, and Gail looked out the door but she didn't go any further once she realized there were guards there. When they all stepped inside, they found Rem sitting up, resting his weight on his hands, watching them with small, tired eyes. Casey smiled when he saw it while Sandra was caught up with what Rem had done. He had taken off the monitors, and was even sitting up. Idiot. "Rem, glad to see you're finally awake." Rem responded with a tired voice, too, "How long was I out?" About just then, he started getting his bearings back. Everything started returning to his head. He remembered being shot, he remembered being saved by Casey's bodyguard, and then . . . then he remembered the girl he saved, standing over his bedside after having held something cold to his neck. He remembered the way she was crying, too. "Three days and some change. The doc kept you high on sedatives so you'd sleep through the worst of it."

Rem heard what Casey said but he was still thinking about the girl. The girl whose name he still didn't know. If it had been any other time, any other person, he'd have gone into a rage, but he understood that she was young. She watched her brother get eaten, watched him get ignored when he was screaming and begging for help, and had survived to grieve over it. She was young and she was devastated, and he could understand that much. It'd be immature for him to hold it against her, especially after she didn't go through with it. "Ugh," he reached up to his face and rubbed his temples as he thought about it. He felt guilty now, sorry that he hadn't been able to save her boyfriend, but if he had tried, all three of them would have died. "Are you alright?" asked Sandra, "Pain?" Rem shook his head, "No. I mean yeah, a little, but nothing to worry about."

At that point in time, the guards started exiting, and so did the other doctors. For the guards it was time to get back in their stations and for the doctors, it was time to get some rest. Casey and Sandra, however, stayed in the room. And then someone else came in. She stopped beside Casey, and Rem turned to look at her. It was Gail. "Thanks," he said, immediately, "Really. Thanks." Gail responded, "Don't mention it." She stared into his eyes for a couple of seconds and he stared back, and then they both looked away. Casey spoke, "Hey, uh, I'm really sorry for this to be the first topic of conversation, but we're all dying to know what happened." When Rem heard that, he exhaled, and it hurt, slightly. _Fuck_, he thought, "Whiskey, please." Sandra chimed in quickly, "It'll hurt." Rem shrugged, "If it does, I'll stop." Sandra stared at him, completely displeased by it, but when the silence endured and he turned an annoyed gaze her way, she caved. She moved towards one of the cabinets and opened it, revealing many medical supplies inside, including whiskey, which was frequently used to sterilize wounds. "Here," she handed it to him, and he took it. "Okay," he began, as he took a swig.

"It wasn't any wild life," he found it hard to start. Honestly, he didn't want to revisit this. He still remembered the boy's frantic screams so vividly in his head. He remembered the smell of a fresh corpse, and the sounds of it being devoured. And the guilt, and everything else. Everything. "They were man eating super mutants," after he said that, they all stared at him, like they were on the same page. "After I found the safe house, I figured it had to be some local wild life because there were no corpses, and there were subtle nuances of things being dragged. Wild life usually eats or drags what they kill to their home, which in the mountains, is usually a cavern. So, after I left, that's what I started looking for." They were absolutely enthralled as the story began.

"I found it about an hour later and I didn't treat it like they were super mutants. If I had had any indications that it might not be wildlife, I would have staked out the perimeter until someone either went in or came out. So, I went straight inside. Should have staked out anyway, I guess. The further I got inside, the more I started realizing that I had no clue what I was heading into. I had been really damn certain up until then but when I didn't see any drag marks on the floor, I knew I was wrong about something. Wondered what kind of animal in the mojave wasteland could lift a person and carry them back to their den. A deathclaw could, I guess, but I've never seen them carry anything like that." When he was describing it, he remembered everything. He remembered the cold feeling inside, and the smell. The smell especially, and how heavy the realization of not knowing what he was getting into was like. "I decided to leave, but it was too late. Some of those fuckers got there, and when I realized they were at the entrance, I did the first thing I figured I could do. Caverns usually have these small little crevices in them. Crawl spaces that radscorpions and giant ants might live in, and that was what I was looking for." He opened took another swig of the whiskey, sneering as it went down his throat.

"I felt that if they were deathclaws, and I knew it'd be more than one because Deathclaws are group oriented, I'd be fucked unless I hid somewhere. Going inside, I was ready to shoot anything, but there wasn't anything until I reached the last cave. I saw two youngsters there. In their late teens. A girl and her boyfriend." Casey interrupted, "He was her brother." Rem paused, raised his eyebrows, and took another drink from the whiskey to calm how bothersome the realization was. He didn't know if that was worse or not, however. Somehow, it felt worse. "Brother and sister then. They were tied up, and the moment I realized that, I knew these weren't no fucking deathclaws," he looked off to one side, after that, feeling like this wasn't particularly something he would have wanted to tell anyone. He didn't want to tell them he didn't have any time, and that he left them there to go hide by himself. He turned back to them, opening his eyes as he did, "I found a crawl space and hid inside. Would have brought them with me if I had enough time." Gail narrowed her eyes for a moment. She knew it. Rem was trash. Just another NCR piece of _shit_ with no business putting responsibility on his shoulders.

"When they came in, I thought they were deathclaws. They were fucking tall, but I realized they were super mutants." He leaned back, pressed his back against the wall the gurney was up against, and tilted his head to the side. Yeah, he didn't want to go into this in full detail. At all, so he closed his eyes, "They ate the brother in front of his sister. Wasn't . . . it was disgusting," he said, as he became fidgety. He screwed the cap back on the bottle of whiskey, took it off again, and drank some more to help calm the nerves. Gail, as she watched him, became angrier than she had been in a while. She _despised_ the NCR, and she _despised_ Rem. "What were you doing while this all happened?" she asked, out of anger. Rem shrugged, choked up, "Waiting." Gail got louder, and Casey turned to look at her when she did, "Waiting? For what?" "For the right opportunity." Gail couldn't believe what she was hearing. "There were seven of them. All had either submachine guns or assault rifles, and the master had a minigun. I wouldn't have made it. All three of us would have died."

Gail stared at him. He was pathetic. He was fucking weak. He didn't have the right to try and help anyone. She turned away and left, immediately, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to control herself. Rem didn't look at her, at all, as she did, but Casey and Sandra did. When Gail went through the door she saw something in her peripherals, against the wall next to the door, so she stopped to see. Autumn was standing there, hugging her torso, crying as she stood there. The door closed and Rem sat there with his eyes aligned downward, "The right opportunity came after about three hours. Stole some bottlecap mines from them, blew one of them to pieces to get their attention away from the crawl space, and made my way out. Another two died to landmines, and while they stalled inside, afraid of the mines, I quote on quote escaped. They ran out after me and when they did, I went back inside and rescued the girl." Casey was listening, and though at first he was questioning Rem's decision to let the boy die the way he did, he reasoned that Rem did the right thing in saving himself, and especially the girl. If he hadn't done what he did, they likely wouldn't have been able to get the supplies either. Sandra felt the same way.

"Where is she?" Rem asked, and Casey responded, "In Sandra's room. She's sleeping." Rem nodded, thinking about her. He remembered the way she looked when she tried to kill him. She had every right to feel the way she did. He understood that she hated him, and that she was either too young or too shocked to understand that he had done the right thing in the end. But even so, he still felt so much like shit. Life didn't always go by logic, after all. Sometimes, it went by feelings. Irrational, immature, ridiculous old . . . feelings. That was the simple truth.

It had been two days since he woke up. Everyone at the outpost was nice to him because he had a hand in returning the supplies. Everyone except for Autumn and Gail, and at times, their disdain was all he saw. Honestly, no matter how many people came to him and patted his shoulder, and no matter how many people said thanks, he didn't feel anything, at all, like a hero. Every time he looked at Autumn, he felt guilt. Sometimes a bit of frustration because he had saved her life and he hadn't heard so much as a thank you from her. Then again, each time he felt that anger, he'd digress, remembering that she was young and hurt. She never stayed in his presence too long either, which generally made him feel unwelcome everywhere he went, but he could forgive that, too. He knew that he reminded her of what had happened, with just his presence there, and that it was okay if she wanted to get away from that.

Casey came through the door and found Rem standing just outside it, leaning one hand on the railing and supporting himself with a crutch. "Morning," he said, and Rem turned to look at him, nodding upwards at him to acknowledge him, "Hey." Then, he turned back to look ahead just in time to see Gail and Autumn walk by below them, on level ground. He stared at them as they walked by, and when Casey leaned up against the railing, too, he watched them walk as well. They were good friends now, Gail and Autumn. They spent a lot of time together. "They get along well don't they?" Casey looked away from them and started to clarify why, "Gail's been nice to her since we found her. She's always taken the extra step to help her feel comfortable and all of that. Autumn feels safe around her." Rem nodded slowly as he heard that. On the railing, there was a bottle of whiskey, and he took hold of it after leaning off the railing. Casey turned his eyes to Rem when he did.

"Been hitting the whiskey pretty hard lately." Rem took a swig and responded as he screwed the cap back on, "Yeah. Won't get drunk though." Casey smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know. How much fun is that, anyway?" Rem shrugged his shoulders at the question, "It just . . . feels right lately. Feels good." Casey raised one eyebrow as he looked at him, and shook his head as he looked away. When Rem thought about it, Casey was the only one he felt comfortable around nowadays. He was the only one who knew the full story that seemed like he understood that the decision Rem made wasn't easy. "Been meaning to ask you," Rem began, as Casey listened. "When do you plan on leaving?" Casey stood up a little straighter when he was asked the question and responded quickly, like he had already been thinking about it. "I spoke to Sandra. I asked her if she would mind if Autumn stayed here and worked with the followers." After the pause, Rem spoke, "What'd she say?" "Well, she doesn't seem to have any skills. At least none that are . . . medical related." Rem looked ahead again, ruminating.

When he looked back at Casey, he spoke, "They could teach her." Casey nodded, "I said that but Sandra said that they don't teach at this outpost. If Autumn said yes to working with the followers, she'd send her to another outpost. An outpost where she could learn and a place where they're not too crowded." Rem nodded, "That sounds good to me. Don't know what else she can ask for. Then again, does she have any family?" "I'll ask her that when we talk to her today." Rem nodded to that, in agreement. "If she has family and she doesn't want to work for the followers, then you and Autumn can take her to them." Casey nodded to that, too, "Yeah, we would. Thing is, way she's clinging to Gail, I get the indication that she doesn't have anyone anymore." When that idea was presented to him, Rem agreed. It was true, she was likely alone now. He opened the bottle of whiskey and drank.

"I remember when I was a little girl, our house caught on fire. I'll never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me up in his arms and raced through the burning building out on the pavement. I stood there, shivering in my pajamas, and watched the whole world go up in flames. When it was all over, I said to myself, is that all there is to a fire? Is that all there is . . . "

God, that Peggy Lee sure did know how to sing a damn song. She could even talk through one and make it sound really good. When the tune kicked in, to this song, Rem couldn't help but smile. He was sitting on a wheel chair with a radio next to him, the song playing on a relaxed volume. "Is that all there is? If that's all there is, my friends, then let's get dancin'. Let's bring out the booze and . . . have a ball." Those lyrics made him feel something as he opened up another bottle of whiskey. He was buzzed, and this was usually where he'd stop, but . . . it felt right, for once. What the hell, he thought, and took a nice, long, satisfying drink. Man did it feel good to break free of the chains of reason. He turned his head from side to side listening to the song. That beautiful, convincing song. Peggy Lee's beautiful, regrettably long gone, voice.

Autumn walked in just then, followed by Casey, Sandra and Gail. Rem glanced up at all of them with a large, near drunken smile. _Oh lord_, Sandra thought. Casey watched him, wow. He was drunk? Yeah, he was. Rem took yet another drink, still smiling at each and every one of them, not minding the soreness between he and two of the women. Even Autumn stared at him for a couple of moments, but she went past him quickly, choosing to insult him with an abrupt exit. He was used to it. Gail followed and didn't pay him much mind either while Sandra stopped beside him, "Stop drinking." Rem nodded, "Alright, alright. I'm just buzzed." "No you're not. Stop it." Casey smiled, clearly amused by this, and shook his head. Sandra walked by after, and Casey patted Rem's shoulder. They went into another room.

"What did you guys want to talk to me about?" Autumn sat down on a chair and looked up at the three adults, curious, but not scared. Sandra spoke first, "To start off, I'd like you to understand that you haven't been a burden to us, at all, but the three of us have agreed that we should start talking about what you wanted to do hereafter." Autumn's eyes went small, sad that she was going to have to return to life so soon, "Yeah . . . " Sandra watched, and so did Casey as he leaned up against one of the walls. Gail approached, "Don't worry, we're planning on helping you as much as we can." She patted her shoulder and nodded reassuringly. "Do you have any family?" asked Gail, and Autumn answered by slowly shaking her head. Casey had been right. Sandra spoke after that, "Well, you could join the followers." Autumn looked up at her when she heard that, interested.

"Do you have any previous medical experience?" Autumn shook her head, but she was more animated now, "No, but I can learn." She spoke with enthusiasm, and all of them could see that. To an extent, they were relieved by that zeal. Sandra nodded, "Alright, if you choose to join the followers, I'll have to send you to another one of the outposts. We don't teach here and to be honest, we're overcrowded." Autumn frowned when she heard that, but Gail cut in before she could feel any worse, "Casey and I would escort you." Autumn nodded to that, agreeing with it, but man, she still felt sad. She had been denying that they'd push her back into life so quickly, but it was only fair. She wasn't paying for this treatment, after all. "Thank you all, so much," then she nodded. Sandra looked away and spoke to Casey and Gail, "Alright, well, I spoke to them today and they asked that we wait a while before we deliver her. I don't think it'll be too long." Casey nodded, "Can do."

Rem was taking another drink when they emerged from the room again. He was caught up in the music playing through the radio as they did, and when Sandra saw it, she shook her head. What an idiot. Then again, he didn't look like he could cause much trouble anyway, so she headed out. Casey walked up to him and stood there, "First time I ever see you drunk." Rem smiled, the way he only could when he was drunk, "Yeah." "Why?" "Feels good right now," responded Rem, as he looked towards Gail and Autumn. He got the same response from them. The cold shoulder, the disdainful glares, and the quick body language that made it look like they simply wanted to get away from him. Rem's smiled changed just then. His lips went flat, and he pressed them together tightly. Then he took another drink while he watched them walk towards one of the doors.

_This is getting old _. . . he thought. He didn't realize it, at all, but he was responding to their attitude differently. At first, it was understanding. He always thought that Autumn was young and hurt, and that she deserved to get away from what caused her pain, but the alcohol was dissolving that train of thought. That tinge of understanding, and even compassion, slowly degraded into aggression. He started to feel more so insulted than anything, and oh god did it start to sting. More than any bullet that he had ever been shot with. Both hands were squeezed, fists formed, his face grew red, and he raised one hand up above his head.

"I COULDN'T DO **SHIT** ALRIGHT?"

When he yelled, he slammed his fist down on the table. The sound resonated through the outpost and everyone in the room got startled while the radio shook and turned off, disconnected from its power source.

Autumn, at first, was startled. She slowly turned around to look sideways at Rem, over her shoulder. She looked calm, as if she hadn't yet managed to register the intensity of Rem's outburst, and the time that raced by in an inexplicably slow fashion started to churn that startled sensation, turning it into something else. Turning it into anger. It festered in her chest before it started seeping out, unable to be contained by such a small space, and stretched out into the rest of her body. She trembled. She gripped both her hands into tight fists and her eyes carved a tunnel towards Rem that blocked out everyone else. Honestly, after what he allowed to happen, how could he even _try_ to lighten his fault? Rem . . . Rem wasn't human. After what he had allowed to happen without so much as lifting a finger, how could he have any humanity in him. The idea that he had even bothered saving her after Jesse had been eaten started to make her angry instead of grateful.

"Yes! You could have done something! You could have shot them! They didn't know you were there!" Rem retorted, angrily, "If I had - - " but was swiftly cut off. She yelled louder and quite simply, with more emotion than he. "Besides, you left something very fucking telling of your character out when you told them the story!" she gestured at Casey and Gail as she said that. "You _know_ you did something cowardly back there. You _know_ that if you told them, you wouldn't look as much like a fucking hero!" In his drunken haze, the words that she uttered somehow stung more. Rem's eyes were intense and his jaw was tight. The anger overtook him and he started to stand, sloppily, and he ignored the pain in his leg, the pain anywhere, except the one in his heart. "If I had shot anyone, _none_ of us would have made it out!" Autumn responded, ignoring the statement entirely, "Tell them! Tell them! Fucking tell them what you did when Jesse freed himself from the cage and tried to crawl into your little hiding place!"

Casey and Gail were watching and listening silently, but when Autumn said that, they both turned to look at Rem. Rem felt their eyes, their questioning gazes, settling on his person and bringing manifest to the feeling of guilt he so deeply wanted to forsake. He gulped. For a while, he couldn't do anything other than stare at her. Autumn saw the pause as a victory, like she had said everything there was to say. Rem, on the other hand, started to remember the feelings he felt while he heard Jesse screaming, crying, and begging for help while he was being hacked to pieces by the machete. He remembered when he screamed his last scream, died, and then he remembered the haunting sounds of his remains being devoured. It didn't feel good, at all, to have heard all of that and to have not been able to do anything about it. Why was she so convinced that he had been cold and calculating about everything? Why was she so convinced that he didn't feel a _thing_ for Jesse? Well . . . maybe because he hadn't told her.

"I didn't pull him in there with me," he began, as he stepped forward, "But it wasn't fucking easy!" As he yelled, he turned the table beside him over, sending the radio onto the floor in a loud, unceremonious crash. Casey watched it go but then he turned right back to stare at Rem. "It wasn't fucking easy for me to hide in there and watch your brother die! Do you think I fucking laid there, in that crawl space, with a sunset sarsaparilla in hand to pass the time! No, I was fucking terrified, I was _ashamed_ because all I could do was listen!" Rem's eyebrows grew closer, his eyes shut tightly, "God damnit!" he yelled, just in time for two doors to open. Sandra came in wearing a night gown and a guard entered from the outpost exit. Sandra spoke, "What's going on here?" Autumn stared at Rem. Now, she was silent. Both of them were, and Sandra's question went on ignored.

"I fucking saved your life," as Rem spoke now, he wasn't screaming. He was speaking calmly, but still, in that calm, fluid voice, there was pain. Deep, emotional pain. "If it wasn't for me, these supplies wouldn't have made it back. I know I didn't do it alone but god damn it, I did _something_ good, didn't I?" Casey spoke, "You did, Rem." Rem glanced at him, then back at Autumn. He didn't want Casey's approval right now, he wanted Autumn's. Autumn continued staring, then she looked to one side, and looked back. She was against a wall . . . she felt like she wasn't completely correct anymore, but . . . but it still hurt so much. Jesse's memory flashed in her mind and quite simply, she just felt like she couldn't let Rem justify his gruesome death. She smiled, for no particular reason other than to mock Rem, and oh did it work. Rem watched her, saw the smile, and waited.

"You're a hero." Her voice was plain, calm, very unlike what it had been before. "You're the wasteland's fucking guardian angel, right?" She began pacing towards him, and once she was standing in front of him, she exploded. "You're a worthless piece of trash! You think you saved me? You might as well have fucking left me there to die!" Rem's eyes became intense again, and he gritted his teeth this time. What more, his eyes turned pink. He started to lose his grasp on his emotions but before it got out of hand, he gripped tightly, unwilling to let himself cry. "You have no place trying to help _anyone_! You're not some fucking guardian angel! You're useless! You are why the wasteland is such a shitty place!" She paused, and then said, calmly, "Fucking worthless." Gail came close to Autumn and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, let's go." Autumn didn't respond. She continued staring at Rem.

Rem stared back. He was quiet. He knew she was wrong, so badly. He had done the right thing. But . . . his feelings were tempestuous. They were indiscernible in his drunken state of mind. They were warped and twisted, but most importantly, he was hurt. And pain . . . well, pain's all the same whether you're drunk or sober. Actually, sometimes . . . it's worse when you're drunk. Nobody saw it coming. Not even the guard who had been there specifically in case something went wrong, saw it coming. Not Casey, not Sandra, not Gail, and especially not Autumn. Rem's anger, his pain, his sorrow, it all coalesced and then . . . he backhanded her. He backhanded Autumn. His left hand rose and whipped outward, slamming his knuckles into Autumn's jaw and in that motion, there were no notions of having been drunk. It was fluid, it was strong, but most of all, it was the wrongest kind of wrong. In Rem's case, the wrongest kind of right.

Casey watched Autumn fall to the floor, Sandra did, too, and so did the guard. Gail yanked her face away from the trajectory of his hand and barely managed to escape it. Autumn yelped, Sandra yelled, "Rem! What the fuck!" Casey's eyes widened. For everyone, it was time to step in, but for Gail, it was time to kill him. After she jerked back, she jerked back towards Rem and, quite simply, punched him square in the nose. Rem didn't see it coming, and when he stumbled back, he tripped over the table he had turned over earlier and fell onto the floor in a messy heap. Casey yelled, "Stop!" he started moving towards Gail, and the guard started coming closer, too, unconvinced that he needed to draw his weapon. That all changed, however, when Gail drew her plasma rifle. Rem was shaking the cobwebs when he looked up and saw a hazy image of Gail pointing the plasma rifle at him. It reminded him of the time she came through the safehouse door, after she had saved him. But then he realized that this time, she was going to kill him. He jerked his body to his left and a small moment after, the high pitched sound of a green plasma burst manifested. It burned a hole into the wood where his head used to be.

The guard started to draw his weapon and when Sandra saw that, she yelled again, with the whole situation becoming chaotic. "Don't! Don't fire!" Gail was about to pull the trigger again when Casey finally grabbed her, lifting his arms up under hers and detaining her so that she couldn't aim or fire correctly anymore. "Let me go, Casey! I'll fucking kill that miserable son of a bitch!" She dropped the plasma rifle as she tried to wrestle with Casey, and also hit him in the face with a few elbows, but he eventually managed to force her out to the barracks, where people had been awoken by the ruckus. The guard didn't point at anyone but he was holding his assault rifle tightly, and Sandra stepped in. "Get him out of here," she said, as she went to Autumn and knelt down. "Come on," the guard grabbed Rem by the arm and pulled him onto his feet forcibly, and then ushered him out the outpost exit. Sandra put a hand on Autumn's shoulder but she nudged it away, "Don't." Sandra retracted her hands, "I just wan - - " Autumn interruped, "I'm fine." She was holding her red cheek, but she started to stand. After that, she walked away, went through the outpost exit and didn't bother to look at Rem as she went straight to the ladder and descended.

Rem was sitting with his back against the wall on the outpost balcony with an armed guard standing firmly in front of him, but he didn't fail to see Autumn walk right by them.


	9. Ch 9: Friends

Chapter 9: Friends.

Rem was still sitting on the balcony of the outpost with his back against the wall. The guard was still there, clutching his weapon, but he wasn't paying Rem much mind anymore. He was just there to make him feel like he couldn't go anywhere, and Rem just understood, so he stayed there, thinking. In his drunken state of mind, he didn't, at all, regret what he had done. He slapped her because what she said was wrong, and aside from that, it stung him in likely the only tender region he had; his undeniable, his undying, desire to help people. If there was anything he had ever been proud of, it was that. And when someone came along and completely disrespected and attacked his good will, he just couldn't handle it. Had it coming, he thought, leaning the back of his head against the wall. _Helping people isn't easy_, he figured, considering what he had been through in the past. Help hadn't always been appreciated in his line of work. _But man, it's never been this fucking hard to, either _. . . his eyes closed, and he dozed off.

That sleep was deep. Deeper than he had slept since he had woken up in the outpost emergency room. However, when he was conscious enough to realize he was sleeping as he lay there, the first thing he remembered was slapping Autumn. _God damn it Rem, you fucking idiot_, he thought as his eyes burst open and he straightened up. He was still on the outpost balcony, and it was morning time. The sun was up, and he wasn't surprised when he realized that nobody had shown him the courtesy of bringing him inside. He knew why, but most importantly, he also understood why. You never lay your hands on a woman the way he did last night. Especially not a young woman whose brother had just been eaten right in front of her. The thought made him cringe. His eyes lidded in frustration and he reached up to rub his face. His ability to reason coherently came back, and unfortunately, it started to utterly permeate him with guilt. So, he started to stand.

Despite the pain, he did, and he used the wall as a support to head into the outpost door. When he did, he saw people there, and all of them stopped talking just to look at him. He felt their disdain immediately, whether it was there or not in as much concentration as he thought it'd be, but he felt relieved when they all simply looked away and went on about their business. He walked in, started heading straight for the room where all the patients rest, and he saw Sandra there, with Casey. So, he walked straight towards them, and Casey turned to see him. "Woah, Rem," he grabbed a crutch, which were easily available in the outpost, and handed it to him. "Thanks," Rem said, as he took it and supported himself with it. It was a relief to see that Casey wasn't vindictive towards him. Sandra opened her mouth to speak but Rem cut her off, "Never drinking another sip." She paused, almost spoke again, but shook her head in disapproval instead. "No really, never. Second off . . . I'm sorry." Casey watched him, and so did Sandra. Somehow, both Sandra and Casey simply knew that Rem was a sensible person, and up until last night, he looked like very little could hurt him. But understandably so, there was _something_. Something that definitely could.

"Where is she?" "Where's who?" Sandra responded. "Autumn," when he said that, Sandra raised an eyebrow. "Why?" Rem glanced at her, a little hesitant to answer, "I want to say sorry." "I think you should just stay away from her." Casey added, "Yeah, I think- - " Rem cut him off, "Listen, I know you guys are right. I probably should stay away from her, but I should also say something. Just sorry. That's all." Sandra shook her head and looked away, "I don't have time for this. If you cause another scene, I'm kicking you out of here. Don't care if you're still crippled." Casey turned to Sandra as she went on about checking patient statuses, leaving Rem and his problems behind to settle themselves. Casey looked back at Rem afterwards, "Just . . . don't go anywhere near Gail. If Autumn is with her, just don't do it." Yeah, he hadn't even thought about how Gail felt about everything. But when he did think about it, he knew she had to be fuming. "Right." Casey watched as Rem walked away, on a crutch, and headed out the door.

When he found Autumn, it wasn't a very welcome sight. Gail was right there with her. They were sitting at a comfortable distance from the outpost. Somewhere still in sight but somewhere nobody could really hear them talking. By then, their talk about what happened last night had been long over. Now, they were talking about other things. Things that could help Autumn escape from her current reality. "I'm from San Francisco, originally." Autumn raised her eyebrows to that, "What's it like there?" Gail smiled a dreamy smile just then, and Autumn found that so . . . odd. When she smiled, it was like she was long lost in thoughts about a . . . a haven. A place far removed from wasteland atrocities. What she didn't know, however, was that Gail didn't smile because it was safe, she smiled because her family was there. Her family, which she loved and missed so much. Companionship went a long, long way in the post war world. "Same as anywhere else, I guess." So why was she smiling like that? Autumn stared, about ready to ask that question, "My family's there." Autumn watched, "Oh."

"Yeah," began Gail, "My family's all there. I came here seven years ago." Autumn found that weird, "Wait, how old are you?" Gail responded without skipping a beat, like she simply didn't mind answering, "Twenty six, or so." Autumn was surprised, "Oh . . . wow. You look like you're no older than . . . twenty two, maybe. Do you have family here?" Gail shook her head, and Autumn added, "Then why are you here? If . . . you don't mind me asking." Gail responded, still comfortable, and it made Autumn feel easy when she was asking so many questions, "I came here with my boyfriend. Back then I felt like I didn't belong with my family so I came here, with him, looking to work as traveling merchants." Autumn was suddenly scared to ask what had happened to her boyfriend. Somehow, she just knew he died. "He was killed by night stalkers about a month after we arrived in the Mojave wasteland." "Oh Gail, I'm so sorry," Autumn covered her mouth with her hands. Gail stayed silent for a couple of moments but eventually spoke, "Yeah, well, things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to."

Autumn saw how it looked like Gail was over it. She was so strong, but also pretty, with her small, delicate face, and she looked like very little could hurt her emotionally. "Why don't you go back?" Gail responded with a shrug of her shoulders, "I've thought about it but if I did, what if I got there and they weren't there anymore? I think I'd rather stay here and fantasize that they're still alive over there. Raising big horners and brahmin, thinking about me every once in a while." Autumn smiled when she heard Gail talk so warmly, so happily in some . . . enchanted tone. "Before you know it, you'll be thirty. You should start thinking about who and where you're going to settle down," Gail smiled immediately. "No, uh-uh, nope," she answered, seeming thoroughly repelled by the idea. "So long as I get mine every once in a while, I'll never bother settling down." Autumn looked confused, like she didn't understand, "As long as you get yours?"

"You know, _mine_, as long as I get _mine_," Gail grinned mischievously, "As long as I can blow off some steam- - " "Gail!" Autumn paused, looked shook, "What the hell?" Gail leaned back nonchalantly, folding her arms behind the back of her head, and closed her eyes with a shameless smile on her face. "What? Just being honest," she shrugged her shoulders. Autumn stared at her, couldn't believe it at all. Then again, why not, she could. Gail, all of a sudden, just seemed like that type of person. While she was thinking about all that, Gail spoke, "How old are you anyway?" Autumn responded quickly, "Seventeen." Gail continued smiling and she shook her head, "Do you know what's good yet?" Autumn understood this time, "NO!" Then she calmed down, embarassed, "I mean," she sideglanced, "No."

Gail started laughing.

When Rem got as much rest as he did nowadays, it was really hard to sleep for lengthy periods of time. Usually, he'd go to sleep at about the same time most everyone did, but it wasn't rare when in the middle of the night, his mind would be restless and he'd wake up. His eyes would open to the darkness of the barracks and when he looked around, everyone was asleep, and it felt like he couldn't sleep anymore. So, he'd step out. That night, he did the same exact thing. He did so as silently as he could and each time he was almost out the door, he'd glance inside to see if he had woken anyone. This time, everyone was still sleeping, so he closed the door as gently as possible and went out the outpost exit. He dragged his leg along and stepped out, and when he did, he took a glance at all of the guards. Some of them were perched atop other high places around the outpost and others were on level ground, near the outpost.

As he walked to the railing that lined the outpost balcony, an algid night breeze swept by, fluttering some of his blonde strands of hair, bringing a very familiar scent to his nostrils. He called it the scent of the Mojave wasteland, created out of the immense amounts of sand, barrel cacti, and any number of other things native to this part of the world. All the while, he continued dragging his gaze along the immediate distance and then he found something. He found Autumn, sitting all by herself, on the floor with her eyes straight ahead. He saw her like this a lot, but not this late at night, and all he could wonder just what, exactly, was going through her mind. She was probably thinking about Jesse, and about how she had been slapped two nights ago. Rem sighed, still regretful of that.

No matter how much time went by, it still felt like it wasn't over. Even after she emerged from that safehouse hatch, even after she had bathed and traveled here with Gail and Casey, it just still felt so much like it wasn't over. Sometimes, she'd get this deep, sinking feeling in her stomach when she imagined that this world, this wasteland, had killed Jesse, her only family member and the one she cared most about. Now she was just alone. She had to live by herself. Maybe not by herself, but without Jesse. That was how she felt just then, as she sat there on the floor, not mindful of the eyes that might be watching her. Her feet were tucked in towards her body and her arms were folded on her knees. The breeze that occasionally swept by, fluttering her red hair, went on ignored despite how chilly it was. She barely even acknowledged the fact that she was lightly shivering. All she could think about was what lay ahead.

Still though, she held her head up and sideglanced at nothing in particular. Just the wasteland, probably, and she realized just how numb she was towards what had just happened in the outpost two days ago. Rem slapped her, the asshole, but then again . . . she may have been too harsh. She thought that maybe, just maybe, if it had been someone else, she would feel like Rem had done the right thing. She thought that it was just anger, sadness, and fear that drove her to be so convicting. And the screams maybe, and just the vivid, fresh memory of how Jesse had died. All of that was a lot to take in. So much that she never stopped to think about whether or not it had been hard for Rem to handle, which it very clearly was. She thought about the things he said. About how it hadn't been easy to hide in that hole while Jesse was being butchered. She closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head, realizing just how time was more of a universal solvent than water. With time, she started to see things differently, feel things differently.

Walking around, it still felt like he had eyes on him. Judgmental eyes. It just felt like everyone knew what he had done to Autumn, and it also felt like everyone knew that despite the fact that he had helped rescue the supplies, only a pig would slap a young woman across the face. Especially a young woman who had just lost her brother in such a traumatizing way recently. Knowing that they would be correct to feel that way, however, made it worse. He had problems sleeping and a lot of the time he spent around the outpost, he'd just lose himself, thinking. Regretting. Wishing he could go back and stop himself from taking that one long drink of whiskey that put him over the edge. He was sitting on a chair on the outpost balcony, looking straight ahead when he digressed and thought, _God damn it, Rem_. He exhaled heavily and leaned forward, reaching up to his hair and dragging his hands along towards the back of his head in frustration.

The person he was constantly thinking about was helping out around the outpost, learning as much as she could before she'd have to head off. It had been three days since they had been asked to wait by the other outpost. Longer than expected, and honestly, it was starting to feel more and more like she was a burden on Casey and Gail. They were missing trade meets because of her. She mentioned it once, to Gail, but she was swiftly convinced that they didn't mind waiting at all. And she could really tell that they didn't, but still, she couldn't shake that feeling inside. "Pass me the bandages," she was brought back from her thoughts by Sandra's commanding tone. She paced towards a cabinet, where she had been taught these supplies were located, and got what Sandra asked for. She returned to her with them, and handed them over, "Here you go, ma'am." Working with Sandra was enlightening.

Autumn realized that before, her simple goal in the wasteland was to survive, but now that she had witnessed Sandra's passion and dedication to helping people, she started to feel like she wanted to help just as much. It was just in her heart to do that, and she figured it also would have been in Jesse's. Furthermore, taking this route in her life just made her feel good about her future. Comfortable, more so, and it also felt like it was a good path to take to move into the next chapter of her life. "Can you get me a safety pin?" Autumn nodded and approached a small box with safety pins in it. She took one out and walked back towards Sandra and handed it to her, "Here you go." Sandra took it and used it to hold the bandages together. "All done, sweetie," said Sandra, and a little girl nodded her head. She still had an unsettled look on her face but what kind of child wouldn't? When she left, Autumn glanced at Sandra with a meek smile, and Sandra exhaled before she went on about her business.

Later that night, she was hanging out with Gail, sitting around a warm campfire outside. Gail was telling her about how she had gotten into the bodyguard business. "About two months after my boyfriend was killed, I was running out of caps, and when I realized that I didn't have enough caps anymore to invest in a brahmin, I decided I needed to find quicker work. Two days later I was scavenging and I found a ten millimeter hand gun and thirty five rounds of ammo for it. I didn't have a weapon up until then, besides a bat, and after two nights of having that gun with me I decided that I was going to offer my services to the next person I saw. I ended up escorting a woman from Nipton to Novac. By the time it was over, I only had five rounds left but I was paid handsomely. I bought ammo, leather armor, and the rest is just history." Autumn listened and watched her at the same time, "Turned out pretty well, I think."

"That's so . . . spontaneous." Gail shrugged her shoulders slowly at the statement, "I didn't have any other choice, honestly. I took what came first and dove in. Like I said, it turned out pretty well." Autumn couldn't help but admire Gail, just like she admired Sandra. They both helped people. Sandra did it with a scalpel and Gail just so happened to do it with a plasma rifle. In the end, it was nearly the same result, but Gail was the most surprising of the two. You wouldn't think it to see her, because she had this small, pretty face on her with short, brown hair. She was also shorter than her, maybe by around two inches, and had a small frame to go along with it. Somehow, however, she managed to look fierce. Fit, too, for survival.

Rem saw them from a distance. He was on the outpost balcony again, and they were at such a distance where he could only wonder what they were talking about.

"Yeah," Autumn responded, and looked towards the outpost balcony. She found Rem there, watching them, and she knew he had been even though he looked away and tried to play it off like he hadn't been. Ugh, sometimes she wished he just wasn't around. He was such a complex person to think about, because when she did think about him, she found herself considering so many things about him. Some days, she was grateful of what he had done for her, and other times, she just didn't want to see his face. Other times, it was worse. There was something she just couldn't stop wondering about. "Gail, can I ask you something?" Gail was glancing off to the side at one of the guards when she turned back to Autumn, "Yeah, of course." Something about the way Autumn asked the question garnered her attention absolutely.

"Nobody knows but . . . I tried to kill Rem," Gail, after having felt so relaxed, was suddenly a bit . . . shocked. "H - - how? When?" she asked, and Autumn responded without stuttering, "The first night we were back and he hadn't woken up from surgery." Gail stared at her, still surprised, but her face didn't show it much. She _did_ sound concerned, however. "That night, Sandra let me sleep in her room. I snuck out when everyone was asleep with a scalpel and went into the emergency room. When I found him, I put the scalpel to his throat." As much as Gail would like to see Rem dead, something about Autumn doing it didn't settle right with her. She was starting to think of Autumn as a little sister, and killing was one thing she wouldn't have wanted her to do. "I was going to ring his throat but I stopped myself. I couldn't do it." Gail responded after exhaling, "It's a good thing you didn't do it." The way she said it made it clear that it was hard for her to say, because she felt Rem deserved whatever Autumn threw his way.

"Rem is scum, but guys like that, they're not worth it. Not for you, at least." Autumn listened to that. She wasn't finished, but she didn't cut Gail off, "He'll get what's coming to him. I wouldn't want you to soil your hands with that kind of business." Autumn nodded, and after there was a long pause and she recognized that Gail wasn't going to say anything else, she continued. "That's not all though." Gail glanced at her, "He saw me." Gail's eyebrows raised, "He woke up?" Autumn nodded, "Yeah. He woke up and stared me right in the eye." As Gail was mulling it over, she fidgeted with her fingernails, but Autumn added. "He never said anything about that though, so I'm kind of wondering if he remembers or not."

"Nah, I don't think he remembers. He was drugged out of his mind when he was in that hospital bed." "You think so?" Gail nodded in response, but she looked down at her fingernails in thought. When she further concluded, she took in a breath and spoke as she released it, "Yeeeah. I don't think he remembers. If he did, he would have mentioned it when you were ripping him a new one." Autumn couldn't help but silently disagree. Something inside, her instincts, actually, told her that he remembered it, and because of that, she couldn't stop losing sleep trying to figure out why he didn't mention it. "I'll be back," said Gail, and stood up. She started heading in the direction of the outpost, likely to visit the facilities. It left Autumn all to herself.

She continued considering it silently. Her mind fluctuated as incoherently as a river flow, and the more time went by, the more time started to simply blend in together. Eventually, she lost track of how long Gail had been gone. It felt like it could have been a minute or at least five. Crunch. That was why when she heard that, it felt like it'd be feasible for Gail to have returned already, even though it had barely been a minute since she left. She slowly started to turn her head towards the sound, and she even started opening her mouth to speak, but what she found wasn't Gail. She laid eyes on Rem, and his light, blue eyes were glancing into her green ones. Before she could even wonder what he wanted, she simply got irritated for two reasons. One, she just wasn't going to enjoy being in the same space as a person who slapped her before and two, this was just foolish. He was being childish to approach her when he was more than adult enough to understand that there should be no contact between them.

"What do you want?"


	10. Ch 10: Redemption

Chapter 10: Redemption.

Rem hadn't been expecting a lesser response. Autumn wasn't going to take kindly to his approach but by now, he was ready for it. He cleared his throat and set his crutch aside before stepping further towards her, with a limp. "Don't come closer," she commanded, and so he stopped and held his hands up to show her he wasn't going to go out of line. "There are some things I feel I have to say," the way he spoke was calm, but there was a certain kind of severity to it that made it clear that he was taking the moment seriously. Autumn, however, wasn't going to have it, "You don't have anything to say to me. We said everything we needed to say to each other a couple of days ago." Rem shook his head, "We're far from telling each other everything that needs to be said." Autumn grunted in irritation, "Why don't you just leave?" "I'm not the kind of guy you think I am."

Autumn snapped back, but not loudly, "Yes you are. You're a pathetic drunk with a gun who likes to play hero occasionally." Those words stung, but because he was sober, he handled them so differently. It was so easy for him to process that she was emotional and simply let it go that it was surprising. How could he had slapped her? Even if he was drunk? "Let me explain myself," when he said that, she inhaled and exhaled, still unsettled by his persistence. At this point in time, the guards that could see them gave the moment their attention. "Keep an eye," one of them said, and the other nodded. Meanwhile, Rem continued, "I want to start by telling you, with all the sincerity I've got, that I understand your feelings and that by my account, you're more than privileged to feel the way you do towards me." When he said that, it reminded Autumn of what she had just been talking to Gail about. He did remember. She turned her head and glanced at his eyes and at that moment, he was glancing back at her. She didn't need anything more than that look, that fully-open eye glance, to know that he remembered that she had almost killed him once. She looked away.

He saw the way she had stared at him and looked away, and he also knew that he had gotten the message across. It was okay that once upon a time, she wanted to kill him. It really honestly was. After a long pause, she spoke, "Is that it?" Rem shook his head and let his arms lay lax at his sides, "No." Autumn remained seated, but she wouldn't look at him anymore. "This might not matter much but I feel like it's something you should know," he paused, waiting for her to make a quip about not wanting to hear it, but when she didn't say a thing whatsoever, he continued, "I'm making a pledge. A promise. One that'll keep me from ever, and I mean ever, letting someone suffer the way your brother did if I'm around to do something about it." The tone with which he spoke was sincere. Utterly, incontrovertibly, sincere. "Because I'm so, so sorry, Autumn, that he's gone." Just when she hadn't felt the haunting grief of her brother's passing for a comfortable while, she felt a light sting in her heart that was anything but subtle. "Stop it," she commanded, almost choking up. Rem stopped. He didn't want her to cry but at the same time, he had to say what he was going to say.

"Another thing," he glanced at her, closely, but he couldn't see her face under those red strands of hair that shadowed her countenance over. "I want to help you. I want to help you any way I can. Anything you need, please ask me."

"You can help her by getting the fuck away from her." When he heard that voice, he immediately knew who it was. It was Gail, and the venom she spewed somehow managed to chill him. It actually worried him. When he turned around and glanced on her facial features, he saw a flame burning in her eyes. He also saw the way she was holding her plasma rifle in her hands. She was holding it calmly, gently, like she didn't have to grip it too tightly in a moment like this. She was just so used to killing that drawing her weapon and having it so readily available was common. "I've said all I needed to say," he said, as he held his hands up to show her that he didn't pose a threat. She responded, "You didn't need to say anything, jackass." With Gail, he was against a wall. There was just nothing he could say to her. She was too volatile. One wrong statement and he could end up being vaporized. "You just needed to stay away from her. I don't want to ever see you near her again, do you understand me?" Rem kept his hands up as she approached him and got in his face, looking up at him, switching her gaze from one of his eyes to the other with the most intense hatred he had ever seen in his life.

"Understood," he responded. What happened next surprised even Rem. She spat in his face, and when she did, he closed his eyes and reached towards it. The viscous fluid trailed down his face, onto his hand, and he whipped his hand towards the floor to get the bulk of it off. Any other time, any other person, he thought, this would have been intolerable. His comprehensive side, however, simply kept telling him that so long as Gail didn't pull the trigger, there was nothing to worry about. "Now get out of my sight," she commanded. He started walking past her, and once he was a good ways from her, he became infuriated. It didn't matter if you had all the composure in the world at hand. When someone spits in your face, you get mad, and Rem was no exception. This time, however, he wasn't drunk enough to let anger govern his actions.

Gail set the plasma rifle down and approached Autumn. "Are you alright, honey?" she asked, and autumn lifted her head. There were tears, and that made Gail angry. "I'm alright. Thanks." Gail frowned and reached out to her face and wiped tears away with her gentle fingers. Autumn was comforted by it. "What'd he say?" Autumn shook her head but eventually responded, "He said sorry." Gail paused before she sat down next to her, thoughts traversing her mind like a pre world freeway. "Unless he said sorry for being born, I wont approve." Instantly, Autumn smiled. She even managed a laugh, under her breath as it was. What was it about Gail that she always managed to make light of every situation? "Thanks." Gail nodded, "Of course. Chin up."

Rem walked into the bathroom and stood in front of sink. For a moment, he stared at the mirror and looked at himself. He was disheveled. Hadn't had a good shave in a while and even though he had supposedly been resting his body to recover quickly, he looked tired. He knew why that was. It was because he couldn't get any sleep, couldn't get any rest from his thoughts. He closed his eyes and sighed before he turned the water on and splashed some on his face, washing away what was left from Gail's spit. When it was gone, and when he had given himself enough time to get over the fact that Gail had spit on him, he felt lighter. Well, in the chest and head area. Three days, he'd been waiting, to do what he had just done, and though it didn't necessarily make him feel good about anything, it made him feel easier. When he walked outside, he stopped the first Doctor he saw. "Hey," the doctor stopped, glanced at him, and Rem added, with no regard to what this doctor's opinion of him might be, "Can you get me my trail carbine, please?" The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, sure." As the Doctor went off, Rem felt even more relaxed. Maybe they didn't care as much as he thought.

When he returned, he was holding Rem's trail carbine, still in pristine condition. "Thanks," he responded, as he took it into both his hands and started heading outside. Out there, he sat down on the chair and did what he usually did when he was feeling level. Not when he was feeling great, when he was feeling level.

He gave the trail carbine its maintenance.

For Autumn, the days were going by like minutes. All of a sudden, it had been another two days, and the guilt that had been festering inside of her for the past five had gotten worse. Casey and Gail were so nice. So nice that they never once gave any indication that they minded missing trade meets with their partners. Usually, that would have served to make her comfortable about it but in this case, it made her feel worse to be taking advantage of people that were so nice. The thought of asking them to go on ahead and make the trek to the outpost by herself crossed her mind several times, but she couldn't escape the plain and simple fact that she was afraid of the wasteland now. It made her feel a little pathetic, but she couldn't bring herself to ask them to leave her alone so she can travel there by herself.

She was sitting in her usual place, just wondering, looking pensive to everyone that laid eyes on her. Then she saw Rem walk by, exercising his body, clearly attempting to rehab himself. From what she understood, he claimed to still be feeling pain in his stomach as well as in his leg, and that he didn't think that traveling in that condition was wise. Sandra never questioned it. She was appreciative of him, after all, because if it wasn't for him, those supplies would have never returned. And . . . it was hard to acknowledge, but if it wasn't for him, _she_ wouldn't have returned, either. She pressed her lips together and moved her eyes away from him, resting her cheek on one of her hands, and she started to think about him. The last time they spoke, he said a couple of things that she didn't how to feel about nowadays. Back then, she was just emotional, but now she wasn't sure.

_Must be crazy to not mind that I almost killed him once_. She continued thinking after that, falling from one point of view to the other, until she concluded that she didn't need to wonder why anymore, honestly. If she did, it was just a waste of time, and it'd be immature, too. _He actually has forgiven me for it. Actually, he never blamed me for it in the first place_, as she thought, she remembered the way he looked at her when he woke up. That tired glance of subtle understanding that he hit her with. He didn't move a muscle in defiance to what she was doing. Didn't try to sit up or contact anyone. He just saw . . . and went back to sleep. She juggled her thoughts for a couple of more minutes before she just closed her eyes and shook her head; a notion so subtle only she could know it was happening.

As Rem walked, he dragged his leg and at times, he'd reach down to it and rub it, attempting to soothe the pain away. After exercising himself for as long as he could, he made his way back to the outpost balcony and sat down on his customary chair, only to be joined shortly by Casey. Rem looked up at him as he came through the door and nodded a hello to him, to which Casey replied, "Hey." Rem spoke once he was leaning against the railing, "Any word from the other outpost?" Casey nodded, "Yeah we spoke to them yesterday. They said they'd let us know." "What's keeping them?" Casey shrugged his shoulders, "They said that the outpost might migrate elsewhere, so if they asked us to go, we'd just get there and have to leave again. I asked why we couldn't go and drop her off so they can take her with them and they said that in the process of everything, they sent supplies elsewhere, and their supplies are enough only for the people there." Rem raised an eyebrow, "Sounds . . . " Casey nodded, "Sounds like they're lying, right?" Rem nodded.

"Anyway," Casey began, after shaking his head, "How's that leg coming along?" Rem sighed in response and rubbed his right thigh, "I still feel this pain inside when I walk." Casey shook his head, "Still bad. Well, the healing process is taking a while but before long, I'm sure you'll be ready to go." Rem nodded, "Yup. I can't wait." Casey smiled, "What do you plan on doing afterwards?" Rem went silent after that, realizing that he hadn't thought about that at all. The thought about going back home and staying cooped up in there didn't sound too appealing. "Not so sure. Something other than go back home and stay there for long." Casey nodded to that, in approval, "You should definitely get out more. A lot of people need help, man." Rem nodded slowly as he flexed his leg, "Yeah. It's hard to help sometimes, though." Casey responded, "Not discouraged, are you?" There was a pause, like Casey wasn't so sure if he should say what he was going to say, "She's just young and very emotional." Rem responded fast, "Oh I know. That's not what I meant. I meant that sometimes, you almost die." Casey chuckled to that and then spoke, nodding as he did, "Yeah okay. Yeah, you do."

Another day went by and nothing. Autumn was lying in bed asleep when all of a sudden, she turned her body and woke up. She looked around at the other beds, and everyone was asleep. She was having troubles sleeping now, and as she lay there on her back, she realized that she didn't want to stay there, so she stood up as silently as she could. Her steps were light, unheard, and so was the door, as she exited and paced out into the common room. From there, she headed towards the exit, rubbing her eyes as she did, and she opened the door. When she did, she smelled the night breeze and she also felt glances. She held her hand up to the guards, and when they saw it, they looked away and went on about their business. She stepped out and closed the door behind her.

When she turned to look at the outpost balcony, she found Rem staring right at her. She froze, and then she looked away, starting to head for the ladder that led down to ground level. Rem continued watching her but before she reached the ladder, she stopped again. She looked like she wanted to say something but was unsure of it. She moved her fingers and kept her arms stiff at her side but eventually, she turned to face him. She had a question for him that she had already answered in her head, but because she felt like she had to hear it from him, she asked anyway. "You remember when I was in the emergency room with you, right?" Rem continued staring at her eyes, and he didn't look puzzled by the question. "Yeah." His response was simple, like he wanted to speak as little as he could to give her room to say as much as she wanted. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" Finally, she made him respond differently. She even made him stand up, sloppy as it looked, "I told you before. I understand your stance and I feel you have every right to feel the way you do towards me. I'm not saying it's alright that you kill me, but you didn't, but I feel that whatever way your emotions were at the time are . . . reasonable."

Autumn sighed, "I guess I understand." When she paused, Rem started to feel like he didn't want this conversation to end. "Gotten word from the outpost yet?" Autumn crossed her arms under her breasts and shook her head, "We did, but they're saying I'm not cleared to go there yet." Rem nodded, "That's not good," he said, as he sat back down. "Yeah," responded Autumn. She was talking to him but she was more caught up with her thoughts instead, and some of them came out, "I'm starting to feel like I'm bothering Casey too much. He's missing so many trade meets because of me." Rem glanced up at her with raised eyebrows, surprised that she was telling him this. "I'm sure he doesn't mind. Casey's a good guy." "I know, but still, I feel like I'm taking advantage of them." She looked away, "Anyway, I'll let you go." She started heading down the ladder and Rem thought, _Damn it._

"Hey hold on." She paused, with her head still protruding over the ladder, and she looked at him. "I can take you, if you want. I'm still recovering and I don't have any trade meets to go to." The proposition . . . surprised her. To an extent, she didn't like it. Actually, she hated the idea. She didn't leave, however, thinking about it until she realized that it might be . . . the better choice to make. Casey and Gail had given her enough and to relieve them from her, all she had to do was put up with traveling with Rem. "You sure?" Rem nodded, "I told you I wanted to help you any way I could." When he said that, she stared at him and eventually, just nodded her head, "Thank you." Then she descended the ladder, and he just sat there, surprised and glad, actually.

As she was walking away from the outpost towards one of the guards, he stood up. Nothing look like it hurt.


	11. Ch 11: Abigail Whitley

Chapter 11: Abigail Whitley.

Autumn woke up earlier than everyone else the next morning because she was nervous, and it felt like she wanted to have everything in control before Gail and Casey were awake. She had decided, against her discomfort, that she'd let Rem escort her to the outpost, but it wasn't until she made the decision that she realized how hard it would be to break it to Gail. Knowing Gail and her tempestuous anger issues, and her incurably steadfast mentality, she wouldn't agree with the decision no matter the kind of flowers she decorated it with. She was outside in the common room that separated all the other rooms, sitting on one of the chairs, reading a pre war book about flowers. She saw many of them in there, ones that were likely long extinct by now, and she was in awe at how beautiful they were.

The door to the barracks came open and when it did, she glanced up to see. When she saw that it was one of the doctors, she looked away again and continued reading the book. In there, she saw pictures attached to some of them and after a while, she started coming across other plant life that at some point in time during the pre war world, were used for medicinal purposes. Maybe it was just her cup of tea nowadays, since she was going to be a doctor and all, but this sounded so astonishing to her. It was sad, however, that flowers were so rare nowadays that she hadn't ever even seen one throughout her seventeen year old life. Would she ever? As she wondered, the door opened again and when she looked up, she saw Casey, coming out with a groggy look on his face. "Casey."

He glanced at her, "What's up?" and yawned right after. "I need to talk to you and Gail about something. Can you bring her outside when she wakes up?" "I'm awake," she heard, and when she glanced at the door, Gail came out, wearing a black t shirt with the black combat armor pants. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, with a groggy voice of her own. Autumn bit her bottom lip and responded, "Let's go outside. I want to talk in private." Gail raised her eyebrows, and Casey just watched, and both of them looked like they immediately recognized something was up, and it had to do with whether or not she'd go to the other outpost. It had to be about that. "Okay," said Gail, and the two of them began following behind Autumn.

After climbing down the ladder the three of them went somewhere behind the outpost. A place where they couldn't be heard unless they yelled, which Autumn figured might happen anyway. It felt like a good place to have the conversation regardless. Gail spoke first, "You didn't change your mind, did you?" Autumn shook her head, "No." She was about to add on but she paused, clearly unable to get her words right. Casey spoke comforting words to her to encourage her, however, "Don't worry kid, what you do is up to you, and we've already told you we'd help you get to where you're going. It's alright if you want to go somewhere else." Man, the way that sounded, it felt like the two of them really would take her anywhere. Even outside of the Mojave, which just made her feel deeply appreciative. "No, that's not it," she answered, and Gail continued watching, "Then what is it?"

Autumn closed her eyes and sighed, but when she inhaled again, she opened up her eyes and spoke more assertively, "Alright. I wanted to let you guys know that I really appreciate what you've done for me. If it wasn't for the two of you, I wouldn't be so well off. I'm also very appreciative of how willing you are to help me." As Gail listened, it started to sound like this was some kind of goodbye. Some kind of thanks but no thanks, but she didn't say anything. She let Autumn continue. "But I feel like . . . you know, like you've done too much for me already." Gail started to speak, attempting to cut her off but Autumn raised her voice just a bit to beat her to the punch, "AAAAND I know that it isn't bothering you guys or anything, but if you guys were in my position, I'm sure you'd feel the same way." Gail finally got the chance to speak, "So what are you saying? You want us to head off so you can make way to the outpost by yourself?" Casey chimed in, "Nope. We're not letting you travel by yourself, Autumn. That's out of the question." Gail looked up at Casey and nodded to Autumn, "Yeah, no way."

There was a pause. This was the hard part, and Autumn knew it, "You're right but I wont go by myself." "Then with who?" Gail didn't miss a beat when she asked the question. "With Rem." Gail stopped. She stared, waiting for the response, and when she yelled, her shoulders hopped. "What? What do you mean with Rem? Don't you remember what happened?" Autumn closed her eyes and exhaled in disdain, "No, I haven't forgotten. I remember but - - " "Then what the hell are you thinking?" Gail yelled each time, and the guards started to hear it. Her eyebrows were furrowed and there was an angry gleam shimmering in her eyes. "I just feel like you guys have been missing too many - - " "We've told you already; we don't mind!" Autumn crossed her arms under her breasts slowly and stopped talking. Gail stared at her angrily and after enough time had gone by, she shook her head, "Case closed." Autumn looked away like a scolded child.

"Yeah, it's alright, we'll take you there." Autumn remained silent, with a disagreeable mien still live about her. "I just don't want to keep bothering you two." Gail sighed out in frustration, turning her body away from her and then turning back to her. When she spoke, she held her hand out to her, stressing her words with it, "Don't you remember that he slapped you? If you go with him, what's to stop him from taking you back to his place and punching your eyes purple?" As Casey heard that, he understood that Rem wasn't capable of doing that, but he struggled with himself wondering whether or not he should say that. "Even if it was only because he was drunk, what's from stopping him from getting drunk again and doing the same thing? What if he _rapes_ you?" That was another thing Casey felt certain Rem wouldn't do, and this time, he couldn't help but intervene. It started with a relaxed exhale, and his words came out just as placidly, "Rem wouldn't do that."

Autumn quickly added, "Yeah, he wouldn't." First Gail looked at Casey. Coming from him, it didn't surprise her but coming from Autumn, it put her over the edge. Her emotions tore out of the chains that held them in check and it was so intense, she spoke with a silent, shaky rage, much different from before. "Are you serious?" She just couldn't believe it. She could not comprehend what kind of woman would be so light towards a man who had slapped her, more so a man who had led her to experience the kind of grief she did. "Listen to yourself." Autumn spoke, "I am listening to myself." Gail exploded at the top of her lungs, "Clearly, you're not!" With the way she yelled, screaming so loudly that everyone within a mile of where they were, Autumn shrunk. She just stood there, staring at her, unable to respond for long. Gail started up again, "I mean, if you liked it when he slap- - " Casey cut her off, "Gail, that's enough." She stopped suddenly and stood straight with her hands clenched into fists, now at her sides. Even Casey was unsure of saying anything but eventually, he did, "He was drunk."

"What?" responded Gail, glancing at Casey. She looked at him with a pair of eyes that she had never looked at him with before. She was angry, out of her mind, but she couldn't bring herself to yell at him. However, the low tone with which she spoke was still venomous, "If you don't want to take her, that's okay, I will." Autumn stepped in as Casey crossed his arms over his chest, the look of irritation slowly manifesting on his semblance. Autumn spoke, "Gail, don't say that to Casey." "What? It's true," responded Gail, "I'll take her if you don't want to take her." Casey shook his head, "It's not that. You've just got Rem pegged the wrong way, Gail." Gail responded fast, "No I don't. I know exactly the kind of person he is. I _saw_ what kind of person he is when he slapped her." Casey continued shaking his head at her, still disagreeing, as he undid his arms from his chest and then he started looking back on something. Something that he had put in the back of his mind the moment he heard it.

The first time Gail met Autumn, she also found out that he was ex NCR. The moment she found out, he remembered how competitive she got with him, and how she talked him down. "What's the NCR done to you?" The question came so out of nowhere that when it hit her, it hit her harder than it would have normally. She definitely hated the NCR, but why did the question come so suddenly? How was it that Casey pointed that out without knowing much about her?" "What are you talking about?" she asked, and Casey stared at her like he knew she was playing it off, "First time you met Rem, remember? We left and I told you he was ex NCR. You've hated him since then." When she heard that, she looked away and to the floor, and Autumn stared at both of them, feeling like something else was going on now. "I don't know what you're talking about," she answered, and Casey never relented with his doubtful glance.

There was a long silence after that. Casey and Autumn both knew that there was something there to be beheld, something inside of Gail that they didn't know about, but it didn't look like she was coming out with it any time soon. Autumn, however, took the chance to say it, "I'm going with Rem, alright Gail?" Gail turned her head to her quickly and glared at her. "Listen, it'll be alright. I promise everything will be okay," she said, as she started approaching her. Gail didn't change a muscle, and Autumn continued, "I'm just going to take the first thing that comes to me and dive in. Just like you did, and it'll turn out just as well with me." Gail closed her eyes as her face relaxed, and she exhaled. Autumn frowned and just hugged her eventually, while Gail appeared reluctant. "You guys can come see me at the outpost first chance you get and you'll see that I'm alright." When Gail heard that, there was a small sense of comfort, and that was enough to convince her to return the hug. When she hugged Autumn, it felt like she was hugging a family member.

"Alright," she said, with a breath to go along with it, "Alright fine." When Casey heard that, he digressed, and just watched them. "I guess you know what you're doing, right?" Autumn nodded, "I promise that I do." Gail nodded as she let go, looking like she was trying badly to convince herself to believe it, "Okay." She stared for a couple of moments and then . . . then tears started forming inside of her eyes. The sensation that Autumn felt from it was indescribable. She never imagined she'd see Gail cry, so when she did, it was just a very momentous thing to look at. "Oh Gail, don't," she reached out and hugged her again. Gail hugged back immediately, holding her tightly. Why was it that she loved Autumn like a little sister so quickly? Maybe she hadn't realized but ever since she had been all alone for this long, she was looking for the first right person she could treat like a family member. Her heart just didn't want to be alone anymore. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm just . . . ugh," she reached up and wiped her face. Autumn backed away to look at her eyes, and saw the moisture packed over her eyelids. "I'm just . . . never mind." Autumn nodded and hugged her again, "It's alright, you don't have to explain yourself."

Gail reached behind Autumn's head and leaned up to kiss her forehead afterwards. Autumn looked down at her smiling. "Alright, so, Casey," Gail turned to look at him. He glanced back at her, "Sorry." Casey shook his head, "Oh it's alright. It's fine, don't worry about it." Gail smiled at him, "I guess we can leave soon after we wash up." Autumn nodded, "Yeah, please do. Catch up with your trade meets." Casey smiled and then he started to walk away, leaving Autumn and Gail to themselves. "Well, I'm going to go bathe and then we'll get going." Autumn stared down at her eyes and nodded her response to her. Then, Gail left, off to bathe, walking slower than she usually did.

In the outpost, there was running water. The sewage system underneath the place had been reconstructed and fortunately, there were no sewage breaks in places that were vital to the outpost. There wasn't a heater, however, but that was a small price to pay. The price still managed to be small when some of the water that came in was irradiated to varying degrees. Rad poisoning was relatively simple to cure, however. Many people also enjoyed the temperature given the fact that they were in a desert, and it was easy to appreciate a cold shower. In fact, it was easy to appreciate a shower in general, because not everyone out there had access to this luxury.

Since there was no heater, there was no trail of onsetting steam to drag the scene along, but there at least was the pit pattering of water droplets splashing against skin and landing on the surface of the tub below. There was an improvised shower curtain made out of light brahmin skin material through which a shadow of Gail's petite curves could be seen. Closer, it looked like she was doing nothing other than letting the cold water bathe her on its own flow, and closer still, her small, unassuming body was slowly revealed, in all it's battered beauty. Whip marks on her back, gashes that had scarred over like jagged cracks in cement along various portions of skin, burns, bites, and bullet wounds that had healed over with enough time but didn't fail to leave behind an ugly reminder. This was her nude body. A petite, curved physicality that somehow still managed to look stunning with all of the pain it had been through.

There were few places that remained free of debris, however. Both her arms, her neck area, and her face. This made it so much easier for her to hide her past and sometimes escape from it herself, unable to see any of it. While she was standing there, water flowing down her body, caressing the scars as it did, her frail hands, which didn't look like they had ever held a weapon in her life, reached up and massaged the water into the rest of her short brown hair. As the water dropped from her person to the floor in heaps, the sound got louder, and then she exhaled before she started shivering. The cold water was great sometimes but not right now, not when she was trying to think about Autumn's decision, and whether or not she was doing the right thing even remaining Casey's bodyguard. Maybe . . . maybe she needed to be with Autumn, instead. She would love to have a sister again.

When she stepped out, she was donned in her black combat armor, body covered all the way up to her neck and down almost to her elbow. The plasma rifle she always carried with her was strapped to her back, tied with a customary noose that allowed gunmen to draw it out relatively fast, comparable to the highwayman's noose that horse riders would use to make a quick escape on a horse. As she walked out towards the exit, figuring that Gail and Casey were waiting outside for the goodbyes and everything, a door opened to her left and she heard her name, "Gail." She turned to see and saw Sandra, and then Autumn, who spoke, too, "Come in." She started walking towards them, still slowly like she was moving uncertainly, and stepped before closing the door behind her. Casey was there, too.

"I heard you guys are leaving, and Rem's going to escort Autumn to the other outpost." Gail nodded, "Not too fond of the idea but hey, she looks like she knows what she wants." The way she spoke belied her body language. Her voice, somehow, managed to sound like she actually understood, and even agreed, but she was unsure of the whole decision in truth. Sandra crossed her arms over her stomach and spoke, "Rem will get her there safely, I'm sure, and what you saw the other night, I don't think that's something he'd do regularly." Gail waved her hand at her, "Yeah, I've heard that from Casey." Casey stared at her and so did Autumn, but Autumn had a smile on her lips. Then, Sandra spoke, "Well, I'm going to give you guys something we give to people who are friends of the followers." She pulled a paper out and handed it to Casey, "Coordinates to all the safehouses we have. The ones that have working radios in them are highlighted, so if you ever feel like you need to contact us, you can do so from there. In case you want to ask if whether or not we've sent Autumn out to the other outpost yet." Casey took the piece of paper, folded it, and placed it somewhere he wouldn't lose it.

Autumn spoke, "Yeah, you guys can radio in." Casey smiled, "We'll definitely make a stop after our first two meets. One of them is close to our second meet and we'll check up on you from there, kiddo." Gail still looked like the somber one between all of them but she did feel another pang of comfort when Sandra handed Casey those safehouse coordinates. "Thanks," she said, to Sandra. "We should get going, Casey." Casey nodded and leaned off the desk as Autumn went over to him and hugged him, out of nowhere. His eyebrows raised in surprise but he hugged back, patting her back awkwardly. Didn't look like he minded, however. "Thanks Casey," she said, and Casey responded, "Don't mention it." Then she moved towards Gail and hugged her, too. Gail returned the hug, pretty tightly, and Autumn closed her eyes as she did. It was so hard not to look like she was afraid to be away from Gail, but she had to keep it under wraps, otherwise Gail would feel even worse about leaving her. "Thanks, Gail. For helping me feel better about things," as the hug continued, Gail nodded to her. Little did she know, Autumn thought about her like an older sister she'd always be able to depend on.

"Alright, well," she let go, this time without crying, and she took one last good look at Autumn's eyes. A lot of things ran through her head, like whether or not she should quit being Casey's bodyguard and stay with Autumn, but when she recognized the fact that if she did that she'd make things more complicated than they needed to be, she went with her gut. "If we don't take off soon we wont make good time, so." Autumn nodded, "Yeah, you have to get going." "Yeah," Gail answered, moments before smiling. _Besides_ . . . she began thinking, _I can always quit later_. Gail turned away and started walking towards the door while Autumn leaned back against Sandra's desk, and Casey turned to look at Sandra. "Favor repaid, I take it?" Sandra raised an eyebrow, "Takes a lot to please me." Casey stopped for a moment. The comment . . . left him feeling a bit out of control. "Oh . . . well, if you ever need anything." Sandra nodded, "Yup, I'll make you repay your remaining debt." Autumn managed a laugh, and Casey, still in confusion with the statement wondering if she had just flirted or not, slipped out.

Gail walked out of the outpost exit and when she did, she saw something in her peripherals. She saw Rem there. He had his trail carbine laying across his lap, and he was pushing a thin iron stick with a rag wrapped around it up and down the barrel to clean it when all of a sudden, something grabbed his collar and jerked him in the direction it wanted. "What the hell?" he said, as the weapon fell off his lap and onto the floor, and when he turned to look at the culprit, he found himself face to face with a deathclaw. Well, with Gail, but there was a very small difference. "I swear to everything I hold sacred in this god forsaken world that if you lay just one of your abusive fingers on her, I'll find you and I'll show you that there are things alive that are worse than any manner of deathclaw you've ever, or will ever, see during your worthless, pitiful existence." She pushed him back and the jarring motion made him hit his head against the wall the chair was against, and he just watched Gail walk away from him. Then Casey came through, and when Casey saw the disheveled status of Rem's collar, he figured what had happened. He didn't even need to ask.

"We're heading out," he said, as he approached Rem and reached out to him. Rem instinctively grasped Casey's wrist and Casey grabbed Rem's. The grasp was strong and they both glanced at each other for a moment, like they'd been friends for years, "Be safe," said Rem. Casey nodded assertively, "Will do. You, too. Won't even ask you to make sure Autumn gets there safe because I know you will." Rem nodded, "Definitely." Then they let go, and Casey headed towards the ladder before descending. When Gail and Casey left, Rem stood up from his chair and picked up the trail carbine. He stood straight and tall, strong and durable, and he was clearly ready to dive into the next chapter of his life. He had been for a while.


	12. Ch 12: Trouble comes in pairs

Chapter 12: Trouble comes in pairs.

Hours later, Autumn was helping Sandra around the outpost. There was a man in there who had been attacked by three geckos, so his legs were shredded up, but luckily enough, there was nothing severe about it. There wasn't an infection to be worried about. "Pass me a gauze, some whiskey, and some bandages," Sandra commanded, and Autumn complied. She walked up to a cabinet that she'd been taught held these supplies and grabbed everything she needed. On her way back to Sandra, she even picked up a safety pin, which was custumary for when bandages were being used. "Here you are, ma'am," she said, just as Sandra turned and took the supplies into hand, noticing the safety pin that came with it that she didn't ask for. Made her feel like Autumn was paying a lot of attention.

The man winced when Sandra began cleaning the wounds with the whiskey. It hurt like bloody hell, and the man, who looked like he was in his early fifties, gritted his teeth and tensed his body. "Agh . . . god damnit," he uttered, as Sandra continued working as gently as she could. Meanwhile, Autumn turned her head to the door, which was opening, and saw Rem come through without a limp. It looked like he had recooperated by then, and with that in mind, she was sure that she'd be able to leave as soon as the other outpost green lit them. When he took a seat on a chair a couple of feet away, she looked away from him and looked back down at Sandra. "Some of these are deep, and they're going to need stitching. Don't worry though, we'll use med-x for that part of the procedure." The patient didn't respond to that, still preoccupied with the pain from the whiskey. Sandra stood up afterwards, "Medley, come finish this up and prep him for a stitch job."

Another doctor, one nearby, turned away from a medicine cabinet he was refilling and nodded, "Yes ma'am." With that, Sandra stood and started heading in Rem's general direction, and once she arrived, she looked down at him. "While I wait for that, I'll check up on you. How's that leg?" Rem started to take off his shirt, which revealed a lightly scarred body, like anyone in his line of work might have. "I can walk on it now. Feels good. So does my stomach, but I still have problems breathing sometimes. As long as I don't exert myself, however, that should be given enough time to heal up on its own." Sandra nodded, "Exactly. Don't over work yourself," she paused, "In _any_ way any time soon." Then he glanced up at her, curious as to what she meant by that. Somehow, he knew she was talking about sex. "Lean forward," she said, as Autumn watched the other doctor arrive to continue Sandra's progress.

Rem leaned forward and moments later, he felt a cold stethoscope pressed up against his back. Made him shy away from it for a moment but then he got used to it. "Breathe," Sandra commanded, and he took in a breath and exhaled. "Okay, now breathe again, but take as big a breath as you can." Rem took a deep, long breath and released it." Sandra started nodding again, "Looks good. Now I want you to breath in and hold it. Deep as you can," Rem glanced up at her, wondering if this wasn't the type of thing to provoke damage. When the stare lasted long enough, Sandra realized what his concern was, "Don't worry. It'll help me get a grasp on your status and it'll help you understand what's too much." Rem nodded and looked away finally before taking a long, deep breath and held it. A couple of seconds went by and then he released the breath, coughing heavily.

Sandra wasn't surprised to see the reaction, but she waited until he had regained himself to ask, "Pain?" Rem nodded in response, "Yeah, just a little. Probably shouldn't be doing any swimming any time soon." Sandra nodded, "Yeah. Well, otherwise, you seem alright." Rem started putting on his shirt, and he stood as he did, "Yeah, I can travel in this condition." Partly, Autumn was watching the doctor work and partly, she was listening to Sandra and Rem. When he said that he could travel now, she glanced at them. So soon, but it was a good thing. She was tired of sitting here at the outpost, waiting, even though learning from Sandra and the other doctors here had kept her relatively busy the entire time. "Can we radio in to the other outpost?" Rem asked, and Sandra responded, "Yeah, you go ahead and radio." Rem, once his shirt was on, started walking out the room.

When he reached the radio, he sat down on the chair in front of it and picked up the microphone. "This is the West Novac Outpost radioing in for Doctor Alvarez, do you read?" He paused and looked to one side, casually thinking about the way they'd get there. There were hardly any places in the Mojave that he hadn't been to before, so when it came to traveling, he was an expert. It took him a couple of moments while he was considering the route when he realized that he hadn't been responded to. He looked at the radio again and pressed the button, "West Novac Outpost. Doctor Alvarez, do you read? Over." Then he looked to his left this time, watching some of the dotors walk by, and then he watched Autumn emerge from the emergency room. When he looked back, there was no answer still. "West Novac Outpost. Doctor Alvarez, do you read? Is anyone there?" Nothing. Rem got a bad feeling about it all of a sudden.

"This is the West Novac Outpost. Freeside outpost, do you read?" He waited for a couple of moments and he got an immediate answer, "Freeside outpost, we read. Over." Rem spoke into the speaker again, "We're unable to contact South Camp Golf outpost, can you? Over." The voice came back quickly, "No, we've been out of contact with them for about eight hours now. Over." When Rem heard that, he leaned back in his chair and went silent in thought for a long, long while. "West Novac? Do you read?" he heard, and he brought the speaker back to his mouth, "I read. Do you know anything about an outpost migration? Over." "I'll go ask Julie. Give me a few minutes, over." With that, Rem continued sitting there, wondering what exactly was going on. When he heard a response, he heard a female. Julie Farkas. "This is Julie. Last time we spoke to them, they asked for supplies, which we sent over. Over." Yeah, hearing that, it was clear something was wrong. "Why do you ask? Over." Rem answered into the radio, "They told us they sent supplies out from their outpost because they were going to migrate. So if they asked another outpost for supplies after telling us that . . . " he looked from side to side, thinking, "They're being held hostage." There was another long pause, "Over."

Sandra was lecturing Medley on the upcoming stitch job the aged patient was going to receive when Rem stepped back into the room. She knew it was him from the way his boots sounded, "What'd they say?" Rem paused, "They're not responding." There was something inside Rem's tone that indicated that he felt like something was wrong. The idea of that made her turn to face him, with her eyes looking up at his slender face. "You think something's wrong?" she asked, causing Medley to stop doing what he was doing to glance at them and listen to the conversation. "I know something's wrong. They radioed the Freeside outpost recently and asked for supplies to be sent in." That caused Sandra to stand up, crossing her arms under her breasts out of habit, looking like she was suddenly concerned. "Which leads me to believe that they're being held hostage and whoever is doing it got them to have supplies sent in." "Shit," responded Sandra, "Seems like every other day, there's another fucking problem." Rem went silent and so did Sandra. She turned her side to him and bit on the side of her index finger, pensively, and then looked back at him, "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, left or right, forward or back, I'm going to have to go check out the outpost," he responded. Sandra lowered her eyes and nodded, before turning her back to him and pacing away slowly. Then she turned back to face him, "What about Autumn?" Rem lifted his shoulders into a shrug, "Well, I guess she'll stay here." Autumn butted in all of a sudden, "No, I want to come with you. What if we're wrong and it's just radio trouble?" Rem glanced at her, eyes small because of how ridiculous her proposition was, "It's not radio trouble. Why would they tell two outposts two different things?" Autumn was silenced as Rem looked away from her, "Either way, I can't stay here." She turned to Sandra quickly, "Is there any chance the Freeside outpost would take me in?" Sandra shrugged, "You could radio them and ask." Autumn, in irritation, narrowed her eyes and shook her head, "No, I'll ask them in person. Rem, can you take me there, instead?"

Rem glanced at her and then back at Sandra. Sandra shook her head in disapproval, and when she did, Rem glanced back at Autumn. Autumn spoke quickly, "You said you wanted to help me any way you could. Help me by taking me to the freeside outpost, _please_." Rem looked away from her and thought about it. Then he sighed and gave in, "Yeah, I can take you there. But we're going to go by the South Camp Golf outpost, first." Autumn nodded hard, "No problem. That's fine." Rem turned away from her and released another breath, looking at Sandra, who shook her head, "No, she could get hurt. Gail would want to kill us both." Rem shook his head at her, "No, I won't let her come too close to the outpost with me. Once I'm done there, and trust me I wont be doing anything dangerous that I don't need to do, I'll take her to the Freeside outpost and if they can't accept her there, I'll bring her back here."

Sandra listened to all that and shook her head, "Fine." After that, the both of them went silent. Rem had his gaze lowered, with his arms crossed over his chest. Sandra was glancing at him. When enough time went by Autumn stepped close to them, "When are going to leave?" The question snapped Rem out of his rumination and he started pacing to one side. "Now. We'll leave right now."

Didn't take Autumn long to be ready, and it didn't take Rem long to be prepared, either. In the time that he spent recovering, he had washed his jeans to the most thorough extent possible and even though all the blood hadn't come off, and they still had bullet holes in them, he still wore them. His white shirt was over with so he was given a light brahmin skin shirt, which he didn't particularly enjoy, and he also equipped himself with the combat armor plate on his chest under the shirt. The trench coat he had been wearing usually was also kept, with the least amount of blood, and even though it had bullet holes on the tail. Finally, he also still had his cowboy's hat. And while he was standing in the common room, tying the trail carbine to his back and securing the duffle bag around one of his shoulders, Sandra came in. "Hey. Need any supplies?" Rem shook his head, "Got enough food and water in the duffle bag."

He had enough water and ammo, and enough food to get him to the 188 trading stop, but what he really felt he was lacking was land mines. However, he speculated he wouldn't need any until he got to the outpost, and along the way, he'd be able to purchase some at the trading post. Moments later, Autumn came in from the barracks, carrying two sleeping bags for them. When she was ready, Rem glanced at her and then back at Sandra, "Alright, time for us to go. Thanks for everything you've done for me," he said, to Sandra, and she shook her head. "No, thank you. Make sure you're safe. There wont be anyone by to help this time around." Rem smiled, "I know. Take good care." Then he glanced at Autumn, "Let's go." He turned around and started walking when he heard his name, "Rem." He turned around, glancing at Sandra, "If you ever need anything, come by." She held her hand out to him, and Rem looked down at her hand. Then he reached out and grasped it softly, before shaking it just as gently, "I wont hesitate."

Just as Rem let go and started walking towards the door, Autumn hugged Sandra. "Thank you for everything you did for me." Sandra returned the embrace by wrapping one arm around the younger woman's torso, and responded, "I was happy to help. That's what I do best." Autumn couldn't help but smile at the comment. That readiness to help was why she admired Sandra, and Gail, too. When she let go, she nodded to her and headed out the door. While autumn was descending the ladder, Sandra came out as well and stood on the outpost balcony, watching Autumn jog a bit to catch up to Rem. Watching them put more and more distance between them gave her the same feeling she got when Casey and Gail left. Felt like friends were leaving. Autumn looked back to see Sandra so pensive. She smiled widely at her and waved, which took Sandra out of that thoughtful state and freed her to wave in return, smiling all the while.

When Autumn caught up to Rem, he spoke, "How much have you traveled?" She stopped walking faster once she was walking next to him, "Not too much. We lived in our parents' place for a while after we were orphaned. A few years later, we saw a deathclaw nearby. We knew that they travel in groups and we felt like we had to leave, so we did." Rem glanced at her, "You made the right decision, actually. Sticking through as that deathclaw migrated in would have been a really, really bad idea." He said, looking ahead again. He gazed far into the wasteland, as far as he could, and there were so many hills that he couldn't even see the horizon. He turned back to look at her and saw a dim gaze on her countenance, aligned downward, and that's when he realized he had said something very wrong. Maybe . . . they would have had better chances escaping the deathclaws, after all. And maybe, if they had died, it wouldn't have been so torturous.

"Casey and Gail said they'd radio in when they could, right?" Autumn glanced up at him, "Yeah." Rem nodded, "She really cares about you." Autumn glanced down again, "Yeah." Rem continued glancing at her, and then he removed it from her. _Damn it_, he thought, _gotta be more careful with what I say_. "I was asking because . . . I'm not sure if you know how to travel properly." Autumn looked towards him. Though her eyes didn't reflect it, she was slowly becoming irritated by the fact that he was talking to her so much. She didn't want to talk to him at all throughout this trip actually. "I know how to travel, don't need to teach me," she said, entirely just to get him to stop talking. Honestly, she hadn't a clue how to travel safely. Rem inhaled and exhaled, "Alright. Well, stay behind me and follow the same trail I follow." When he said that, she felt instantly at ease, glad that he sent her back so she wouldn't have to talk so much. She fell back, and Rem continued.

Once she stepped back and was out of his immediate attention, he started to focus on the wasteland. It had been a while since he had set out into it, so doing it now felt a little alien. But it didn't take him too long to start feeling at home with it. To start feeling at home with all the loneliness surrounding him and Autumn, and with the fact that there could be danger over every hill or around any corner. Nowhere was safe, ever, in the wasteland, and when traveling, the best defense a man could have is an unfaltering perception with which he could see the enemy before the enemy saw him. So with that, he became ever watchful, ever cautious of all the things that surrounded him.

Autumn watched how cautious he was. There were times he'd hold his hand back and ask her to stop, then he'd go up on a nearby plateau and look around to see if he could spot anything. If there was nothing, he'd motion for her to follow and she'd follow. A couple of times along the way, they were attacked, but never by anything Rem's trail carbine couldn't take care of. Twice geckos and once a radscorpion, but Rem didn't pick anything up from them. She remembered when she was living with Jesse, they picked up anything they killed. For food or to sale, no matter what, but Rem didn't. Looked like he had everything figured out, knew what he needed and didn't need, and though she still wasn't easy traveling with him, she did feel safe.

Hours later, she finally spoke, "Hey, Rem." He paused and turned his head over his shoulder to glance at her. When his eyes settled on her, she was trailing up a hill with her eyes looking at where she walked, "How long have you been in the Mojave? You seem like you know your way around." Rem turned ahead and responded as he walked, "Came here when I was twenty six, from Baja, California. I'm thirty one now." Autumn continued walking, watching her step until she was going downhill behind him, "You were born in Baja?." Rem landed on the base of the hill and looked ahead. He saw cactuses and more sand into the distance, but nothing other than the wind moved. Then he continued walking, "I was born in Santa Clarita. Very small town. Had a small population before the war, and it had an even smaller one after the war." Autum listened and as she did, she continued walking, watching her step whenever she felt she needed to.

They traveled for another few hours and eventually, there was something in the distance. Not lights, but the semblance of a town. A town that had seen war before. "There's boulder city. We'll rest there and make our way to the outpost after we get some sleep." Autumn looked at it from where she was and for a couple of moments, she understood, but as Rem started to walk, she spoke, "We're not going straight to the outpost?" Rem shook his head, "I imagine you're feeling a little tired, so we're getting a rest stop." Autumn thought for a moment but then she shook her head vigorously, "No! I'm not tired at all. We should go straight there. What if we get there later and we're too late?" Rem stopped and turned to look at her, a little surprised with her reaction. Before he spoke, he took a good glance at her, trying to make note of whether or not she looked tired. She didn't look tired, at all, "You sure?" She answered assertively, "Yes."

Rem looked towards Boulder city and then in the direction of the outpost, "Alright. Well, let's go then." He started walking in another direction, and Autumn followed. "You thirsty?" "No," Rem turned to look over her shoulder when she said that. "I'm not going to think you're tired if you're thirsty. If you're thirsty, you're thirsty." There was a pause, and then Autumn spoke, "A sip then." Rem stopped, "In my duffle bag." She walked up to him and stuck her hand inside the duffle bag and after digging around, she procured a purified water bottle. She opened it and started drinking while Rem began walking again.

It was starting to get dark, and the more they walked, the more he kept wondering if Autumn actually was holding up. As for him, traveling was easy. He couldn't necessarily go forever without resting but he could go a long while before he needed to sit down and get a long, lengthy rest. "You holding up alright?" he asked, and Autumn exhaled as she navigated the wasteland. "Yes," she responded, a little breathy. When he heard the breathiness he stopped and turned around to look at her. She stopped, too, and she glanced at him, realizing immediately why he had stopped. "I won't lie to you, I'm tired, but I'm not drop dead tired. I'm not going to stop until we've gotten to the outpost." After she said that, Rem reached up and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll give you a ten minute rest. Have some food," he started reaching for his duffle bag, and she retorted, "No, no. No time to waste." "Eat something, otherwise you'll be more trouble for me than I need." When Rem spoke, he spoke sharply. "Sit down."

Reluctantly, she sat down and he pulled out some food from his duffle bag. Iguana bits, and handed the stick to her. She looked up, reached for it and took, "Don't eat it all. Otherwise you'll cramp up when we walk." She nodded in response and started eating, while he paced away and secured the duffle bag around his shoulder. He turned his back to her and turned in the direction of the strip, where the Lucky 38 could be seen jutting into the sky, brighter than any star up there. He remembered a long time ago when the strip was the dream. The place to go and be. Not so much anymore. It was more like an unnecessary gem that didn't need to be around anymore, because most of the energy from the Hoover Damn was being funneled into it. Days like this, he thought that if the NCR were led by a man who was more interested in protecting the people, then more people would side with the NCR, and things wouldn't be as bad as they were.

While he stood there, Autumn could see he was thinking. The breeze caused his trench coat to billow gently, caused his blonde hair to flutter, but the rest of his body looked like a statue. She wasn't so fond of Rem but as she watched him, standing there like he had a lot of his mind, she started wondering what he might have been through in the past. Everyone had a story in the post war world, what was his? "Rem," she called to him. He didn't respond, and when she noticed that, she spoke again, "Rem." He turned his head back to her suddenly, like he realized he didn't hear her a first time. "What is it?" She bit down on a piece of cooked gecko and spoke, "Why aren't you in the NCR anymore?" Rem raised an eyebrow to the question, wondering why she was suddenly interested in asking stuff. With enough thought he figured that since she was traveling with him, she might as well. It wasn't because she liked him.

"I guess our ideals don't match anymore." "Anymore?" she asked, and he nodded as he lowered and sat down on his rear. "I joined up because of what they represented. They were a military for the people, but the larger they got, they started representing that less. They became a military for the military." Autumn listened, but didn't understand entirely because of the odd way he had of saying things. "What do you mean?" "Well, I don't know if it's because of the pressure from the Legion and the Fiends, but after a while, they weren't out to share technology with the people that needed it anymore. For example, the Hoover Dam is built to funnel energy to a lot of places, not just the strip and Camp McCarran. They don't do that, however." As Autumn listened, she nodded, to show him she understood. "On top of everything, it's hard to help people sometimes when you're in the NCR. You can't save a life without clearance. Things like that discouraged me and I never signed back up."

Autumn, though she still found it hard to give him credit for anything, realized that, well, that wasn't a bad reason to leave the NCR. "Did you fight in Boulder City?" Rem shook his head, "No." The straight forward response she got for that question discouraged her from asking any more like that one. "What do you think about the Legion?" Rem was glancing away after he said no but when she asked that question, he looked back at her, as if he thought it was a ridiculous question. "They killed a lot of my friends, so I feel towards them the way any NCR soldier might feel towards them. Other than that, they're hell in the Mojave, need to be put down. Even now, after the second battle at Hoover Dam, they're not entirely gone." Autumn responded, "Yeah but what's left of them is being hunted down." Rem nodded, "Yeah. But, you know, it'll be hard to. They haven't even raided cottonwood cove yet. You would imagine they had already, but I guess they want to let them get their strength back again for another go." Autumn took one last bite and put the gecko bits away in one of her compartments.

Once she felt rested enough, she stood, "I can go now." Rem nodded to her and stood, then he turned and started walking. This time, Autumn spoke, and while Rem occupied himself with being watchful again, he didn't even notice the big change. "I heard explosions during the second battle of Hoover Dam. What was that about?" Rem responded quickly, "A bomber from Nellis Air Force base flew over the Dam and blasted a lot of Legionaries to pieces during the battle." Autumn raised her eyebrows in awe. "Woah. The Boomers helped?" Rem nodded his head. "What were you doing during all of that?" "I fought at Camp McCarran. The Legion attacked lots of places that day." "Were you still in the NCR?" Rem shook his head, still looking around, "No."

Talking, the hours went by faster, and after another hour or so they saw the 188 trading post in the distance, with an NCR flag billowing proudly overhead. He started heading in that direction, and when Autumn noticed that, she spoke, "I don't need to rest." "We're close enough to the outpost so I'm going to leave you here and be on my way there. When I'm done scouting, I'll make my way back to you. Besides, I need to buy some stuff here." Autumn paused for a couple of moments, thinking things through, "I want to go with you." "No." She furrowed her eyebrows, "I want to help." "You can't help me here, Autumn." She started getting progressively angry, "Yes I can. If you find more than one person there, you wont be able to bring them back by yourself." Rem continued walking, still not convinced to bring her along, "Depending on what's happened there, I'm not even going to go inside. I'm there to scout." Autumn stopped walking, and when Rem noticed that, he stopped and turned around to look at her. She was staring at him, with her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Didn't you say you wanted to help anybody you could?" Rem responded quickly, "Yeah, but if I die this time around, you're not getting to the Freeside outpost. So, to make sure you get where you have to go, I have to be safe." Autumn shook her head at him, "No, go there to help them. I can get to the Freeside outpost by myself if something happens." Rem crossed his arms over his chest, "No, you can't." Autumn exploded angrily, "Yes I can! Don't tell me what I can and can't do, alright! You don't know what I can do!" He was a bit stumped all of a sudden, but more than anything, he felt a pang of fondness towards her. She was righteous, and these were the types of people he could get along with. Finally, he felt better about having saved her life. She continued, "You said you wanted to do whatever you could to help me. Help me by helping whoever is still alive in the outpost." Rem added, "_If_." "Whatever," she responded, "If they're alive, you'll find out." Rem stared at her, and then . . . well, he smiled at her. "Alright then." Honestly, he was kind of glad she was asking this of him. There was no doubting that he wanted to help in the first place but he knew he couldn't if he wanted to ensure Autumn's safety, and now that she had allowed him, no urged him, to do so, he felt more at ease.

It didn't take them too long after that to reach the 188 trading post, and the moment they did, they were met by a heavy trooper and two NCR troopers. Rem watched them calmly when he heard something unexpected from the heavy trooper, who was wearing power armor that had been stripped of some of its internal parts for the purpose of not requiring training to use it. "Remington." Rem stopped, glanced at the heavy trooper and didn't take his eyes away. The man set his minigun down and started reaching for his head, and started removing the helmet, revealing a light skinned african american man with short, buzzed hair. "Hah! Ricky!" Rem smiled immediately, grinning widely and reaching out to make a deep handshake that reached their forearms. Rem tightened his grip and pulled him close, and when they did, they each gave each other a heavy pat on the back. "Jesus Christ man it's been forever," Rem continued smiling as he spoke, and Ricky nodded. "Yeah. How've you been, sir?" Rem shook his head, "Don't sir me. Anyway, I've been alright. Got into some trouble the other day, with super mutants." Ricky nodded, "Those super mutants are useless. Trouble, nothing more." Rem's face went a little serious, and Autumn just listened to them.

"These were a little different. Not the type you see in the way of Jacobstown." Ricky noticed how Rem's face went a little serious, and knew that he should take this more seriously. "Well . . . what were they like?" Rem answered, "They were more yellow than green and they were cannibals. They ate people." Ricky stared at him, "Oh, shit. I've had to deal with cannibals before, but not super mutant cannibals." Rem nodded, "Look for the yellow skin if you ever have to deal with super mutants." Ricky nodded deeply to give Rem the indication that he understood, and then spoke, "Anyway, where ya headed?" Rem started walking inwards towards the 188 trading post. "Before that, this is Autumn. Autumn, Ricky." Ricky glanced at her and nodded, "Nice to meet you." He didn't say anything other than that, figuring that maybe, she was Rem's girlfriend. Autumn replied, "Nice to meet you, too." She followed as they walked.

"I'm helping out the followers. You know the uh, the outpost northwest of here?" Ricky nodded in response, carrying his helmet under one arm and the minigun in his other hand. "Well, I think they were being held hostage and whoever was doing it got them to ask for more supplies from the Freeside outpost. Then we lost contact with them." Ricky responded, "Oh, so they're probably gone man. Probably shouldn't bother anymore." When Autumn heard that, she realized just the type of people the NCR were, and she also started to understand why Gail wasn't so fond of them. "I know, but I have to go check it out, just in case, you know?" Ricky shook his head, "Probably a waste of time." Autumn cut in, no longer able to hold herself back, "Excuse me, what if we have friends there? Don't you think you might be being insensitive about this?" Ricky turned to look at her, and well, he was put down by it. "Sorry," he said, simply, and looked back at Rem. Autumn withdrew herself, still angry, but she continued following. Rem glanced at her and then back at Ricky, "But yeah, I have to go check it out."

With that, he started heading in the direction of the gun supply." Ricky looked in their direction and then back to Rem, "What do you need?" Rem responded, "Frag mines." "Michelle's asleep right now. I'll ask Samuel to wake her, since this is urgent." When they reached Samuel, he looked at both of them, "How may I help you, gentleman?" Ricky spoke, "Can you wake Michelle? This is urgent." Samuel nodded, "Give me a sec." When Michelle arrived, groggily, she didn't say a thing. She just waited for them to speak. "Four frag mines, if you got any." "Got three," she said, as she started getting them. She handed them over, "Two hundred and ninety caps." Rem reached into his duffle bag and went through the process of counting them, and then handed them over. "Thanks," he said. "You're welcome," and she went back to sleep.

Once Michelle was gone and Rem went through the process of strapping the frag mines into four convenient compartments on the inside of his trench coat, he glanced at Ricky and spoke, "Time for me to get going." Ricky nodded as Rem started walking, and followed along with Autumn, and when they started to reach an area away from the 188 trading post, he spoke, "Yo, Rem." Rem turned back and glanced at him. He could see that Ricky was reluctant about something, "I would go with you, but orders are clear." Yeah, he wanted to come with them, but if he did, he'd likely be punished. "It's alright. Can't spend resources without clearance and all of that, I know the drill. Don't beat yourself up for it." Ricky stopped walking as they began leaving the trading post. Autumn didn't say a thing, seemingly keeping something to herself.

The while that they spent walking was silent. Every now and then, Rem would turn over his shoulder to glance at her. He could see that she was thinking about something. When she finally spoke, he had been expecting it. "It's not even like the trading post is far away. If NCR soldiers were injured, the followers would help them." As Rem walked, he nodded, agreeing with her without saying a word. She saw that, and then continued, "Can't spend resources? Why the hell do they have guns then?" She was sounding increasingly irritated, and then she exhaled in frustration, "The NCR is so damn useless." Rem heard that statement many times, from many different people, and each time he did hear it, it never settled right. He cleared his throat and responded simply, without a desire to elaborate, "Sometimes." She looked at the back of his head as he continued walking.

"Sometimes?" Rem exhaled, reaching up to adjust his hat, and then he responded, "They're useless in the sense that they're not helping out the Followers, but they're extremely useful in the sense that they didn't let the Legion ravage the Mojave." Autumn looked down, in thought, and responded, "I guess, but it's a job half way done when they're only bothering with the Legion. With all the people they have, with all the resources, they should be helping out as many people as they can." Rem responded, "You're right, but even though the NCR is huge, they're spread too thin. They have to deal with Raiders and the Legion, which is a lot to take in by itself, and if you throw in all these other small things inside like wildlife, petty thieves and all criminals in general, it's way too much to ask from anyone. Sometimes it doesn't feel like they do everything they can do, but nobody ever thinks about how much they're already doing."

"I guess . . . " she answered, and Rem nodded. The conversation had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. He had frequented this topic so much that every time he did, it made him feel like a broken record, and it made everyone else seem like a broken record, too. He was just glad Autumn hadn't seen enough to be angrier than she was now. If she had, then this wouldn't be such a relaxed discussion. Moments after the conversation he paced over a small sand hill in the Mojave and immediately spotted the outpost. There it was. When Autumn reached him, she stopped beside him and stared. Honestly, even though Rem made it clear that something had more than likely occured at the outpost, she wasn't ready to see it. One of the windows was shattered with blood staining the broken shards. Bulletholes covered some of the wooden expanse of its composition, and oddly enough, the lights inside were still on.


	13. Ch 13: Arrival

Chapter 13: Arrival.

"Oh no . . . " she began. Rem stared, with a pair of eyes that were more studious than surprised. The door started opening and when it did, he spoke, "On the ground. Quick!" After that, he dropped onto his stomach and so did Autumn. "Quiet," he uttered, and she listened. "He's not a raider," Rem said, as he continued staring. A man came out, wearing a Merc Adventurer's outfit. Autumn asked, "What is he?" Rem shook his head, "Just another wastelander, I guess. I honestly didn't expect it to be Raiders, to be honest. They're not typically amrt enough to pull suplly hoaxes like the one that was pulled here." As he spoke, the man sat down on the balcony of the outpost, which was similar to Sandra's outpost save for the fact that it was a lot, lot smaller. After the man sat down, he started drinking whiskey, and then he lit a cigarette.

After that, he started considering how he was going to approach. He was goign to have to circle around to the back and approach from there, where he wouldn't have to worry about a sentry's eyes. Once he got close enough, the large red cargo creates surrounding the outpost should provide enough cover to mount an offense from. Once he concluded that, he started speaking, "Alright, you're going to stay here." He didn't need to look at her full on to see the disdain creeping across her semblance. "What?" she asked, and he elaborated, "When I'm through, I'll smack my rifle against something made out of iron so you can come help me with whatever I find." She stared at him, and he continued, "You don't have a gun and you can't sneak around as well as I can. You'll get me seen before I want to be seen. Don't worry, I'll call for you when it's all over." Autumn looked away from him, disappointed all of a sudden. He was right. She didn't have a gun and she didn't know how to handle herself, and she'd likely just be a burden if she came with him. "Alright, she responded, clearly not entirely at ease. But it didn't have anything to do with Rem, it had to do with her inability to help.

Rem turned to her after she agreed and nodded deeply to her, "Keep your eyes on your surroundings. Don't forget to do that, because you don't want to be snuck up on. If a radscorpion got you, it'd mean a lot of trouble. Understand?" Autumn nodded again, and after she did, Rem started crawling back. Once he had crawled back enough he stood up and reached to his back, where his fingers tugged on the highwayman's noose and released the trail carbine. He took it into his hands and started lightly jogging, avoiding open spaces in front of the outpost as best he could. As for Autumn, when he finally disappeared into a place her eyes couldn't see him anymore, she looked ahead at the outpost again. All of a sudden, she felt so helpless, so useless. So useless and helpless that she found herself envying Rem for being so good at handling himself.

Once Rem had circled around the outpost and he was looking at the rear from where he was standing, he lowered onto his stomach and surveyed. There was absolutely no activity there and there was no way he'd be seen. Good, he thought, and with that, he stood up and started moving in the direction of the outpost. The closer he got, the more comfortable he started feeling. He appreciated the fact that it was going to be so easy to get the jump on these people, but all of a sudden, he caught wind of something. His steps froze and so did his body, _Fuck_, he mentally exclaimed, with a pair of intense blue eyes aligned downward. He saw the faded yellow frame of an active frag mine, well camouglaged in the sand, and all he could do is thank his perception for having seen it before it was too late. After seeing it, he turned a careful eye around and started spotting more of them, all strategically placed to prevent someone from sneaking up on the outpost.

Rem stood there for a couple of seconds, looking from side to side, assessing the situation, and it didn't take him long to come up with a plan. He had been in these predicaments before and sometimes, it was just amusing how good he was at coming up with counter strategies, especially when frag mines were involved. He started stepping back, carefully, and before long, he was out of the frag mine scope. He went up to one of the red cargo crates and looked around it. He saw a ladder there, leading up to the roof of it, and then he looked around to the other one. This one also had a ladder. _Good_, he kept mindful of everything. Inside the outpost, he could hear people moving around. He figured that perhaps there would be another two or three of them inside, and grimmer yet, none of them would be survivors.

He was in the middle of surmising that these people, whether they were raiders or not, were the type that needed to be removed when he heard a scream. It came from inside and it reverberated in his ear, leaving him with a heavy weight on his chest. It was a woman, likely a survivor, and he gritted his teeth. _Fuck_. Autumn, heard it, too. She was in the process of surveying her surroundings from her low position when she heard it. She snapped her eyes back to the outpost and stared. From where she was, it was hard to see anything. "Damn it, what's taking him so long? There's a survivor," she gritted her teeth and tightened her fists as memories of Jesse came back to her. What if the person inside was being tortured. "Damn it Rem, do something, please," she was so sure that nothing would happen that when something did happen, her eyes went wide.

A loud explosion echoed through the distance, and she saw it from where she was watching. It happened behind the outpost, where Rem was going to approach from. _Did he . . . no . . . _she hoped, realizing that he might have just gotten blown to pieces. After the explosion, two other men emerged from the outpost just as the one outside started standing, holding his weapon in front of him. They all had scoped assault rifles and all three of them looked like they knew what they were doing. Two of them started descending the staircase to level ground while another stayed on the balcony, pointing downward with his assault rifle in case his friends didn't see something. When the two descended, they didn't hear anything, "Must've been an animal." When they saw that the explosion was there but there wasn't a mess, one of them spoke, "Animal, maybe?" "Wait a minute," the other said, his eyes changing. There was a damn boulder there, near the explosion. One that hadn't been there before. "It's a trap!" he yelled, just in time for a shot to reverberate through the distance.

One of the men collapsed to the floor, shot in the head by Rem's rifle. "Shit!" the other yelled, as he started running away. As he started approaching the staircase again Rem pulled the trigger, hastily, but true, and he hit the staircase, causing the man to steer away from it. Beep, beep, beep, "Oh fuck!" Another explosion occured, and the second man's legs were blown off of his body. As Rem saw it, the man's body seemed to float in the air, limp, before it descended towards the ground and landed unceremoniously. _Two down_, he noted, as he started looking around. He was behind the outpost and where he was, on that red cargo crate, nobody had a chance of firing on him.

As for Autumn, she saw the two men go down. The first one, she just saw a vague image of him dropping to the floor and the second one, she saw his body elevate and fall to the ground, victim to a frag mine. "Hurry up Rem," she whispered.

With two of them dead, he had to wonder how many more were inside. So to find out, he stayed silent for a little while, as silent as he could be, until he heard the other's steps moving him from the balcony and into the outpost. For now, he was certain that there was at least one more, and he had no clue how many more were inside. Rem gritted his teeth, realizing that he had to come to them now, and that they wouldn't come to him unless he waited a long, long time, and it was likely that the survivor inside wouldn't be alive for much longer. _Damn it_, he thought, as he started rising from his current spot. Once he was standing, he surveyed the ground below and once he was sure there were no mines, he lowered to the edge of the crate and dropped, gently. When he landed, his knees gave way to absorb some of the impact, and he started moving towards the staircase, carefully.

Once he had reached it, he surveyed the staircase itself for frag mines, to see if whoever was up there had left any unpleasant surprises for him. Didn't look like it, so he circled around it. When he was at the base of the staircase, he started questioning whether or not he should take such a straight forward route. This was the one route they were ready for, but then again, there were no other routes. No windows other than the two on the front, and no entrances other than the door between them. Also, there was very little time, considering the situation of the survivor. So with that in mind, he started ascending, making each step careful, and the closer he got the clearer the sounds from within became. The radio was on, playing a bautifully country song. I'm so blue by Katie Thompson, and aside from her, there was nothing but silence. His rifle was held in front of him with the tip of the barrel aligned upwards, towards where the door of the outpost should be. Once he was almost there, he started to sweat. Then he stopped, gritted his teeth, and leaned in. _This is ridiculous_, he complained, thinking about the fact that these men looked like they knew what they were doing.

"I'm so blue without you . . . Thought our love was true, then you found someone new."

He exhaled, quite loudly, and then he smacked the tip of the rifle against the steps ahead of him frantically. A shot reverberated right after. A shotgun shell blew a hole right through the door, and if he had come over those steps, he would have been shot right in the stomach. Regardless of the fact that the man missed, Rem yelled, "Aaaagh!" What happened afterwards happened in a flash. The door started sliding open, a man came through, believing he'd hit his mark due to the scream, and then another shot was heard. Rem blasted a hole right through his head, and he performed the lever action of the weapon to load another bullet into the chamber before the man had even hit the floor. He didn't even glance at the dead one any longer. He was too busy staring over his dead body, into the outpost itself, looking for activity. He couldn't hear anything other than the music at all. Not even the anxious shuffling of a survivor. It made him nervous.

Each step he took was slow and careful, with the tips of his feet touching ground before the rest followed, so he could stop a step in case he was about to make a huge noise. Every here and there, there was a squeak, and each time there was, he winced, but at the very least, the music muffled some of the noises. He was staring straight ahead when he stepped over the dead body carefully, boots grinding against the dust silently, with his rifle aimed ahead as well, and when he entered the outpost, he saw bulletholes and blood. Looked like everyone was dead, but to his left, there was another room. Likely the barracks, but the door leading to it was partly closed. Rem stared in that direction like he knew something was there and started approaching, slowly. He was so caught up in the silence of everything other than the music so when he heard something loud, his shoulders jumped, "Help me please!" "Shut up, bitch!" After that, he heard a gunshot and when he did, his eyes went wide and he ran towards the door. He kicked it open and kept his body aligned to the right of the door without heading inside.

On the floor, he saw a woman, naked as the day she was born, with a bullet hole in her chest. Didn't look like it'd hit the heart. Her eyes were glancing at him, her mouth tried to talk, and her hands perused the wound like she couldn't believe what had happened. Where are you, he wondered, figuring that the enemy inside was either to the left of the door frame he was staring through or to the right. Then, all of a sudden, he saw something flying through the door. It came from the left side of the room and bounced to his right side, against the door, and started moving towards the ground. The pit pat sound that he heard from it was terrifying because when he heard it, he knew immediately what it was. Somehow, probably just out of instinct, he waved the butt of his weapon at it and before it hit the ground, he smacked it. It flew away and started rolling against the ground as he lowered. When it exploded, he gritted his teeth, expecting the worst.

However, after it happened, he realized that it wasn't a grenade. It was a smoke grenade, and the gray mist didn't fail to quickly start expanding through the room. It blanketed him and as it did, he pointed the rifle towards the door frame, knowing that the person inside would come through there anyway. To make room for a shot, he started backing away, and when he did, he saw another object fly through the door frame. This time, he had the range to act, so he did. He turned his body to his left, ran a step, and dove behind a desk just in time for the grenade to explode. It left his ears ringing but he didn't have time for that. Immediately, he upheld his rifle and sat up. The man in the other room came rushing through the door, knowing the smoke grenade and the actual grenade had either caused enough damage or enough of a ruckus to create an opening for him. When he came out, he knew immediately that his enemy had dived behind one of the desks for cover, and that's where he started heading, looking to climb over it and point down during the chaos.

"Now I'll never know how I love you . . . "

When the man arrived at the desk and began climbing over it to perform his coup de grace, he felt a jarring push coming from the desk. It tripped him to his fore and when he fell, he threw his hands forward to keep himself from landing on his face. In doing so, he threw away his pistol but landed right on top of Rem, who had his rifle held horizontally, with his fingers out of the lever hoop to keep himself from being entangled during what was going to happen next. When the man landed, he crashed on top of Rem and grabbed out at the rifle. "You're going to fucking die," the man uttered, growling as he did, as he began pushing down on the rifle. Rem's hat came off as the back of his head pressed up against the wooden floor, and he felt the larger man's weight start to be a factor, because the more time went by, the closer the trail carbine got to his neck. "Diiieeee," the man said, gritting his teeth, pressing with all the strength he could muster in an attempt to choke Rem.

"Watching the stars above us . . . Hoping that I could win back your loooooove." The radio continued.

Rem released a breath of exertion and started tightening his eyes, "Ugh," then he pressed his lips together and pushed back. The man raised his body just a bit and when Rem noticed that, he knew he was about to push down with his weight, so when the man did that, Rem pushed the rifle up over his head, causing the man to push it down against the floor. At the same time, Rem let go of the carbine and elevated, throwing his head forward as he did, and he caught the man right on the bridge of the nose with a headbutt. The man yelled in pain and raised his body while Rem gritted his teeth in pain, but he didn't let it stop him from throwing a throat punch, which connected flush while the man was in disarray. He coughed after that, and Rem took advantage of that to lift up explosively to turn him over. Rem ended up on top of him, placed between his legs, and he started punching and elbowing wildly. The back of the man's head smacked against the wood multiple times before he reached up and grabbed Rem's neck and squeezed. Rem gritted his teeth, feeling the nails digging into the skin, and feeling the strain of getting the air choked out of him.

"I'm so blue . . . without you. Thought our love was true."

_Mother_ . . . he began, as he grabbed the man's wrist with one hand and wrapped his other arm around his elbow. _Fucker_, and as he finished the thought, he bent the man's arm at the elbow to get the hand off his neck and then jerked the arm to the side, angling the forearm counter clockwise away from the elbow. "Aaaaaaaaaaagh!" the man yelled, in light of having his elbow broken. As he yelled in pain Rem got off of him and rolled to his left, in the direction of the man's pistol. He grabbed it and turned around as swifly as he could just in time to see the man looking to grab Rem's rifle. Rem pulled the trigger multiple times, hitting him in the back with as many as five bullets before he stopped moving. Rem was breathing hard, but once it was over, he turned onto his back and placed a hand over his chest. It started to hurt.

At the same time, the song started pacing to an end, abruptly ending and giving way to another song. Jazz Blues, which was another mellow tune.

"Agh . . . god damn it," he said, gritting his teeth shortly before standing. He dropped the pistol and walked over to the man he had just killed. He was wearing a Merc Veteran's outfit. Probably the leader of the four. He reached down and picked up his rifle, nearly stumbling, and then he headed towards the barracks. There, he saw the naked woman on the floor. She was still glancing at him, breathing, but there was blood trailing out of her mouth. From the looks of her, she'd been raped and abused. He started approaching her, "You'll be alright." He said, as he knelt down in front of her, just in time for him to hear something coming. "Shit!" he whispered, grabbing the trail carbine and pointing back at whoever was there. "Don't shoot!" he heard. It was Autumn, holding her hands up, "God damn it I told you not to come until I gave you the signal." He turned back around and tossed the trail carbine away, and started assessing the female.

Autumn walked up quickly and looked down at her. "Oh no . . . quick, we have to stop the bleeding!" Rem spoke, "Put pressure on the wound." "What?" "Put pressure on the damn wound!" He reached back to her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her close. After that, he placed her hand against the blood, "Pressure," he commanded, and so she did. Rem took off the duffle bag and started looking through it. He set a stim pack down, tweezers, whiskey, and a dose of med x on the floor while Autumn stared at the woman's face. "You're going to be alright," she uttered, just as the light started fading from her eyes. "No, don't die," she said. As it started to become more and more apparent that she was leaving, however, she got more frantic and yelled "Don't die!" Moments later, the woman's eyes went blank, staring straight at her but at nothing at the same time. Rem stopped in his tracks with a stim pack dose in hand, ready to inject her. He inhaled and exhaled, and Autumn's hands started shaking.

In the background, the song continued, with a melancholy trumpet that blended in . . . painfully well.

After a couple of seconds, Rem lowered his hands with the stim pack in hand, "She's gone."


	14. Ch 14: Cassandra Boykins

Chapter 14: Cassandra Boykins.

When Autumn heard Rem say that she was gone, she moved her hands away from the corpse and looked at them, soaked in blood. Rem, on the other hand, glanced at the deceased woman, stared at the lack of life in her eyes, and shook his head at her in pity. She didn't deserve for it to end this way. He exhaled and reached out to her, placing his hand over her bruised face, and when he removed his hand, her eyes were fully lidded. She looked more peaceful that way. When Autumn saw what Rem did, she started to slowly stand. She stared at the woman for a couple of more moments while Rem glanced up at her, and then she turned around and started walking away. Rem watched her and then he turned back to the woman. After staring at her for a while, he reached out for his trail carbine and placed the butt on the floor for support before using it to push himself up.

When he was standing, it started to feel more and more regretful that he hadn't been able to save her. _Why'd you have to scream for help_? Then he just shook his head and turned out the room, walking out in search of Autumn, turning the radio off as he did. When he found her, she was washing her hands at a sink, watching the blood go down the drain. Autumn spoke, "We were too late." Rem approached her slowly and he stopped near her, placing the butt of the rifle against the floor, "No, she screamed for help while I was in here and when she did, the guy shot her. Out of frustration, I think." He looked towards the man who was wearing the merc veteran's outfit. He was on the floor, bleeding into the ground, unmoving. "Oh," responded Autumn, and Rem nodded as he reached up to his neck. It stung a little, and when he looked at his hand, he saw blood. "She was raped and beaten, wasn't she?" Autumn asked, with a tone that drifted away.

Rem breathed in and out, finding it hard to say, but he couldn't lie to her. It'd be insulting, "Yeah." Autumn frowned and shook her head, "Why are there people out there like this, Rem?" Rem was still standing in the same place while he watched her wash her hands, which were clean by then. "I don't know. It's just how it is. Same reason why the sky's blue, Autumn," he said. Autumn turned the water off and turned around, leaning her weight up against the sink. Rem stared at her, knew how pensive she was, and he breathed in and out again, "It's not easy." Autumn listened, and when no elaboration came, she asked, "What isn't?" Rem leaned his weight on the rifle and responded, "Helping people. Helping people is really damn hard." Autumn looked down when she heard that, thinking about Jesse, and herself. "Sometimes you see things. Things that'll be with you for the rest of your life. Like her," he gestured back towards the room where the woman lay motionless.

"Even as a follower, you know, you'll see things. Sometimes you lose patients you feel you could have saved barring unforeseen circumstances. For example, if she hadn't screamed for help, I might've gotten the chance to get rid of the guy before he could shoot her." Autumn was silent but eventually, she began nodding. Rem, after seeing that response, removed his duffle bag and obtained a couple of rounds of ammo from it and loaded three into his rifle, bringing it up to its maximum of eight. After that, he secured the duffle bag over his left shoulder and began tying his weapon to his back. Autumn spoke while he did, "If you had known they were super mutants, you would have handled it differently." Rem stopped for a moment and glanced at her. He never saw this topic of conversation coming, "Yeah . . . " he answered, and nodded to further his acknowledgment, "I would have scouted more. I could have picked some of them off from afar, led others into some frag mine traps, and all of that." Autumn nodded, "Yeah." Then she inhaled and exhaled as Rem approached her.

She looked up to see him standing over her, in front of her. She stared into his bright blue eyes, perused the details of his slim face, and could see a difference all of a sudden. He looked more like a person now, and less like another random denizen of the wasteland. "Here, excuse me," he said, and she moved out of the way. Rem leaned over into the sink and turned it on. Then he cupped water in one hand and splashed some on his neck, washing away the blood. Autumn crossed her arms under her breasts and watched him as he did so, and then she turned to look at the woman. From where she was standing, she could see her face, her long black hair, her breasts, and nearly the entirety of the rest of her upper torso. "She could be someone's sister. Someone's daughter, or even someone's mother." Rem grabbed wiped away the water from his neck and glanced at her, "Yeah. She could be."

Autumn shook her head, "Is she the only one?" Rem shook his head, "No, there were others. They're outside." Autumn answered quickly, "Outside where?" Rem paused, didn't really want to say it, but he did eventually, "In those big cargo crates." Autumn nodded, "She was the one we kept talking to from the other outpost, isn't she?" Rem released a sigh and nodded to her. It really was a very depressing thing to think about, but Rem was more accustomed to it, whereas Autumn couldn't stop dwelling on it. "Wow, it's so surprising, the way things happen. I never would have guessed. They could have had a gun pointed to her head. She could have been crying while she was talking to us," all of a sudden, she choked up and sobbed. One hand reached up to her mouth to cover, and Rem turned to face her entirely. He wanted to say something but at the time, he couldn't come up with anything.

As he watched her, she continued crying, as silently as possible. The tears rolled down her cheeks continuously and it took him a while before he finally said something. "Let's give her a funeral." She glanced up at him, and then looked ahead again, and started nodding. Rem hadn't ever given anybody like this a funeral, but when he proposed it, it felt like it was something he should've been doing for a while. "Will we bury them?" Rem shook his head, "No. We can't do this for the others, too. They've been gone for a while. Getting close to bodies like that can give you diseases, so we can only give her a funeral." He stepped ahead, towards one of the dead mercs, and spoke, "We'll burn her." Autumn remained standing there with her eyes pink, but then she nodded. "Alright."

While Rem went on about finding dry grass to make a bed of it for the girl, Autumn sat by on the staircase, listening to the lonely sounds of the wasteland. It was so hard to fathom that in this very location, something so horrible had happened but the rest of the world would never hear about it. And even if it did, nobody would make it a big deal. It made the world feel so empty.

Once Rem had gathered enough grass and cloths for the incineration, he climbed up to one of the iron cargo crates and started making a bed of it. Once it was ready, he climbed down and looked towards Autumn, "It's ready." Autumn stood up as Rem walked up the staircase, brushing past her. When he emerged from the outpost, he was carrying the woman in his arms, wrapped in dark sheets so that the only thing that could be seen was her face. Autumn watched Rem descend down the stairs and go past her, and then she watched him put her over his shoulder to carry her up to the roof of the cargo crate. She followed, and when she got up there, she watched Rem place her in the middle of the bed. "I wonder what her name was," asked Autumn, and Rem answered, "We're going to radio to the other outposts once we're done here. You can find out." Autumn nodded, and as Rem straightened up and stared down at the woman, he breathed.

Then, he reached into his trench coat and pulled out a box of matches. After taking one out of its box, he struck the tip against the black strip. The fire burned bright, and then he tossed the wooden stick into the grass, where the fire began to spread. The woman's face was lit up by the orange luminescence and somehow, it gave her an ethereal glow. Autumn stared silently beside Rem, who also stared silently for a while, until he broke the sounds of crackling flames and spoke. "I've seen a lot of people pass before, and many have gone on without recognition. Not tonight. A woman passed, murdered, and though we don't know her name we certainly know her face, and that will forever remain etched into the walls of our hearts. Until the day we, too, pass on. Rest in peace." He closed his eyes and when he did, Autumn stared at him. She turned to face the body, which was slowly catching fire, and she closed her eyes, too.

Her body was eventually entirely on fire, and the smoke that came from it reached high up into the sky. They stood there together for a long time and eventually, he turned around, moving towards the ladder that led down to ground level. Autumn turned to see him go, his words echoing in her ears, and then she turned away and followed him, leaving the crackling flames behind her. As Rem walked, he walked like he wasn't thinking about the fire anymore, but he was. It had been a long, long time since he had seen a proper funeral like that one. The only few times he had seen them was when fellow soldiers in the NCR were felled, but never when it was a random wastelander he didn't know. It felt heavier than usual to have given the woman a funeral but at the same time, it felt like they had given her the smallest, most insignificant due she deserved for having at least lived.

When he was at ground level again, he went from one of the dead men to the next, routinely turning them over onto their backs and seaching through their stuff. The two he killed outside the outpost had marskman carbines, which were respectable weapons in their own rights. He acquired ammo for them, a bottle of purified water from one of them, and went up towards the outpost. Autumn watched him as he went on about it, calmly, like he had done it many times. Unbeknownst to Rem, she felt a subtle kind of elation, or something close to it, from the fact that Rem had made these men pay for their transgressions. Each one of them was dead now, and none of them was going to get a proper funeral. "Rem," she uttered, and Rem was at the base of the staircase when he stopped and glanced back at her. "Can . . . can you teach me how to use one of those guns?" When she asked him that, he was surprised. "Why?"

Autumn crossed her arms over her stomach and answered, "I can use pistols, and I can load them and all of that, but I want to learn more about weapons. So I can defend myself." Rem slowly nodded, "Alright." Then he started walking up the staircase, and she followed him. Once they were inside she watched him search through the one with the shotgun. He ignored the caravan shotgun he had and only took a bottle of purified water from him, before moving on to the leader of the group, who didn't have anything of value on him except for a wad of caps. Two hundred and thirty caps, to be exact. Rem took them and poured them into a small bag, which then went into the duffle bag. After that, he straightened out and started looking through the rest of the outpost. Autumn raised an eyebrow and followed him into the room where the woman died. Her blood was still fresh on the floor, slick. "What are you looking for?" she asked, while Rem looked through tool cabinets and other things.

"The supplies that the freeside outpost sent. If they're not here, then they had friends, and those friends made off with the supplies." Autumn nodded slowly, understanding now. A few minutes later, after Rem had looked through just about anywhere he could think of, he approached the radio and sat down. Once he turned it on he heard static, and beside it, there was a book full of frequencies, which he looked through. When he found the one he was looking for he radioed, "Freeside outpost, this is Southwest Camp Golf. Do you read?" As he waited, he turned to Autumn, "Close the door." She looked towards it, walked to it, and closed it. At about the same time, Rem heard a response. "We copy. Who are we speaking to? Over." Rem held the radio to his mouth and spoke, "This is Rem. I came here from the North Charlie station to figure out the situation. Everyone's gone. Over." There was a long, but expected, pause.

"Copy." Rem stayed silent for a couple of moments and spoke into the radio again, "The supplies aren't here. I suspect they had friends, and their friends took the supplies elsewhere. Over." Moments later, he got an answer, this time from a female. He recognized her as Julie Farkas, "Understood. Are you sure everyone's gone? Over." Rem was about to respond when Autumn spoke, "Ask about her." Rem turned to look at her over his shoulder, thought it was useless to ask, but when he turned back to the radio he spoke, he did, "I'm sure. Do you know who the woman with the long black hair and green eyes was? Over." Julie responded, "Cassandra . . . Boykins. Why do you ask? Over." "We gave her a funeral. We just wanted there to be a name to go along with the face. Over." "Copy." A long while went by and Rem radioed again, "I have a question to ask, Julie. Over." Julie responded, "Go ahead."

"I have someone here with me who is looking to join the followers. Originally, she was going to come here to learn, but in light of these recent events, that's not possible. Would you by any chance be able to take her?" Julie responded, "Does she have any skills?" Rem shook his head, "She was learning things at Sandra's outpost, but otherwise, no." Julie responded a little later. By then, they were ignoring radio protocol. "I see. Well, I suppose we could take her in and teach her, if she's willing to learn." Rem responded, "She is, no doubt about that. Can I bring her over as soon as possible?" Julie nodded on the other side, "Yes. You can." Rem glanced at Autumn, who was standing beside him now, and answered, "Will do then. Over." After that, he started switching the frequency to the West Novac outpost. "This is Rem. Does anyone read?" It took a couple of moments but he got a response, "Rem. We read. What's the situation? Over."

Rem shook his head, "Everyone's gone. Over." Moments later, Sandra spoke, groggily. "Rem. It's Sandra. You said everyone's gone?" Rem nodded as he answered, "Correct. Everyone's gone. The supplies that were shipped in from Freeside are nowhere to be found, which means they likely had friends who took them elsewhere. Over." Sandra leaned back in her chair, one arm across her torso and her other elbow resting atop it. She sighed, too, and then spoke, "What's the plan for Autumn?" "I'm bringing her to Freeside. They said they'd take her." That was some good news, at least, but it still felt like too many of her friends were dying lately. "Good. Well, you better get a move on. Don't want to be there when their friends get back." Rem nodded deeply, "Definitely. Rem out." He set the radio down and put the frequency book in his duffle bag, in case he needed those frequencies later, and turned to Autumn, who was glancing at him.

"We're going to go back to the 188 trading post and then we're heading to the Freeside outpost." Autumn heard that, nodded, but didn't forget that he said he'd teach her how to use other guns, "You're going to teach me how to use those guns, right?" Rem paused as he was pacing, like he had forgotten about it entirely. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'll teach you how to shoot." Autumn stared at him, and as he started to walk past her, she looked like she had more to say, but didn't. "We should get out of here before their friends get here," he commanded, and with that, he took a quick glance out the window. He surveyed the surroundings closely for a little while and eventually emerged before descending the staircase. Autumn followed behind him, but while he began walking straight back in the direction of the trading outpost, she stopped and looked back at the fire.

As the orange brilliance of the flames shimmered in her green eyes, she thought about Cassandra, and what she must have been like. She might have been shy with a good sense of morality about her or she might have been talkative and more promiscuous than she should be, but in the end, she was a Follower, and the fact that she wanted to help people made the final verdict on the class of person she was final. She was a good person, because she had likely helped many people before she died, and she more than deserved the brilliant funeral she was given. _Rest in peace, Cassandra_, she thought, as Rem called, "Autumn!" She turned in his direction and started jogging, carrying the two weapons Rem had acquired from the men he killled earlier.


	15. Ch 15: Change of heart

Chapter 15: Change of heart.

The outpost that they had left behind had faded from their eyes by then, and the smoke that had risen into the sky was also gone. Cassandra's body had burned, and all she had left behind was a black, smoldering shape on the surface of that iron crate. And an image of her face, implanted in them for the rest of their lives, like Rem said. She was looking back there over her shoulder while she was thinking that, and then she thought of Rem, and turned ahead to look at him. She watched him yawn and place a hand over his mouth as he released the breath, still surprised with the fact that she admired him now. Well, when she thought about it, she decided that she didn't admire _him_, she admired his strength. His ability to make a difference at times. She wished, oh so badly, that she was that strong.

"Rem," she called, and Rem continued walking, steps longer than Autumn's. "Hm?" he asked, acknowledging that she had called his name. "When will you teach me how to use these?" Rem took a couple of moments to respond, and again, he yawned. That's when she realized that he was more tired than he let on. "Tomorrow," he answered, simply. "I uh, wanted to ask you if you could teach me more than that, too." "Like what?" answered Rem, looking around the landscape as he did. "Well, I want to learn how to travel safely. How to notice all the things you notice. How to go on about, you know, attacking someone the way you just did." When Rem heard that his head shook to one side once, to emphasize what he was about to say, "That takes a while, Autumn. I can't teach you that from tomorrow to the day after." Autumn glanced down at her path as she listened, and then spoke, "I mean . . . " she trailed off.

Rem continued walking, guessing that she was just compiling her thoughts so she can speak, but when he noticed it was taking her a while, he knew something was up. He turned to look over his shoulder, and she was still glancing at the ground, "If . . . if it takes a while, I don't mind." They began up a hill after she said that, and when they reached the apex, the trading post could be seen. "What are you saying?" asked Rem. Autumn stopped beside him but instead of glancing at the trading post, she stared up at him, instead, "I can stay with you for as long as it takes for me to learn." Rem turned to look at her and then took off his duffle bag, reaching inside for a bottle of purified water, looking like he wasn't taking what she said all too seriously. Once he had taken it out he put the duffle bag around his shoulder again and opened the bottle. Autumn spoke, "I want to get just as good as you are at this, so that when I'm working as a Follower, I can defend myself. I don't want to end up like Cassandra."

His eyes were dragged from the landscape onto her while he drank from the bottle, and after he swallowed, he spoke, "Like I said, I can't teach you that from one day to the other. It takes time. It takes as much teaching as it takes experience." When Rem began to walk, she did, too. This time, she stayed at his side. "I know but . . . if you don't mind, I don't mind." Rem stopped suddenly, "What are you saying?" This time, he asked that more seriously, like he expected more of an elaboration from her. It didn't take a genius to suspect that she was saying she'd stay with him and not go to the freeside outpost, but he had to hear it from her to be sure. She stared up at him and was silent for a while, and she couldn't speak until she looked away from him, "I'll stay with you for as long as it takes for me to be able to defend myself. If you're okay with it. I wont go to the Freeside outpost." Rem was surprised and, first and foremost, not at ease with it.

"I don't think I can. I don't think Gail . . . " Autumn cut him off, "I don't care what she thinks. I want to learn how to defend myself." She paused for a couple of moments and thought. "Besides . . . you said you'd help me any way you could," she said that with less strength this time, feeling like it'd been overused at this point. When she did, however, Rem pressed his lips together and breathed out, feeling like she had him up against a wall. Then he turned his body to her, "Alright, let me tell you something." He screwed the cap back on the bottle and held it to his side, "This is going to sound like something anybody might say, but I need you to understand the gravity of this. This is a very serious decision you're making here. One that you shouldn't make on a whim." Autumn responded quickly, "I know, I know. I know what I want, alright? I want to learn how to defend myself and then after that, I want to join the Followers." Rem sighed and shook his head at her.

Autumn spoke, "You said I need experience. You can bring me with you whenever you go help someone." "I can't bring you along. Something could happen to you." Autumn wasn't skipping a beat, "If that's what you're worried about then I'll tell you, right now, that if something does happen to me, I wont blame it on you. I decided this on my own and if I die, it will have been because of a decision I made." The idea of that didn't sit well with him at all, "Yeah, right. When Gail finds out she'll cut my ba - - " Autumn interrupted him, "I said I don't care what Gail thinks about this. This is my decision to make and if she has a problem with it when we see her again, I'll be the first to tell her that. If I die, it's not your fault. It's mine, because I made the decision." There was a long pause while she stared at him, waiting for his answer.

"Will you teach me?" Rem reached up and rubbed his eyes in frustration, "If that's what you want . . . " Autumn nodded quickly, "Yes. It's what I want." Rem glanced at her and turned his body away, releasing a breath as he did, and started walking, "Alright," he said, with his voice trailing off. Autumn smiled when he said that, and she started following him until she was walking at his side. She glanced at him and then away, and then back, trying to say something. "Thanks," was all that she could think about at the time. Rem walked with a lazy gait, like his whole body language was expressing his disapproval. To her, however, he had already said alright and it was a done deal. She looked ahead, smiling as she did, thinking about the future now. She looked forward to learning how to defend herself.

When they got closer to the 188 trading post, Rem could see that in the distance, the troopers identified them but didn't choose to come out to greet them this time. Probably because they'd been here a couple of hours ago. When they finally arrived, Rem approached the NCR soldiers immediately, moving towards the heavy trooper. The heavy trooper turned to him and nodded, "I heard the gunshots." From under the power armor helmet, Ricky's voice sounded different. More mechanical, but still like Ricky. "What went down?" Rem stopped a few feet from him and answered, "They got attacked by a few people. They weren't Raiders because they knew what they were doing. Everyone in the outpost was wiped out." Ricky responded, "Told you man." Autumn's eyebrows tightened subtly. "We found a survivor actually, but she screamed for help after I engaged and they shot her." Ricky shook his head, "Ah shit, man. That's bad. Sorry to hear that."

Rem breathed in and released, "Yeah. Well, we got to the bottom of everything and I radioed to the other outposts about it. So they all know about it. I don't know if they'll want to reactivate the outpost, though." Ricky answered, "Naw, I don't think they should. And if they do, they better have a fuck load of guards around. Last time I was there they only had two. Place like that needs at least four or five." Rem nodded, agreeing to that, but before he spoke Autumn cut him off, "If you knew that was the case, why didn't you guys send them some support?" Ricky glanced at Autumn and after he set down the minigun, he held his hands up, "Hey hey hey, not my call, baby. It's on the upper brass." Autumn shook her head and looked away, "Useless." Ricky raised an eyebrow underneath the helmet, "Excuse me? Let me ask you something. Do - -" Rem held his hand up, "Ricky, sorry." Ricky stopped and Rem continued, "We came by to get some rest. I was wondering if you could lend us two of the beds in the bus." Ricky nodded, "Yes sir. Go ahead."

He nodded and started walking past Ricky, and Autumn followed, walking past the heavy trooper without even looking at him. Ricky didn't remove his gaze from her, and when she walked by, he found himself staring at her rear. _Not bad_, and then he picked up his minigun again and went on about his business. Rem walked up to the bed all the way at the end of the bus and started removing his stuff. First, his rifle came off and then his duffle bag. Then his hat and then his trench coat. Finally, he lied down on the mattress and covered himself with his trench coat and turned his back to everything else. Autumn lied down on the mattress next to his, unraveling the sleeping bag and using that to sleep on to keep herself warm.

As she lay there, she grasped one of the marskman carbines and started examining it. It look a little beat up, but the guys at the outpost had used this, so it had to be functional. When she looked into the scope, she noticed there was a crack. _Wow, that's bad_, she thought. She picked up the other one and looked through the scope, finding that one was in perfect condition. After the continuous shuffling, Rem spoke, "Stop making so much noise." She got startled and then she set down the gun. When Rem went silent, her eyes remained wide open, realizing she wasn't tired because she was so excited for tomorrow. Regardless, sleep swept in and dragged her into her dreams a few minutes later.

"Autumn! Check this out!" She was in her home, which she remembered clearly, when Jesse came running in. "Look at what I found!" She stopped what she was doing and glanced at what he was carrying. It was a small brown sash with a short rope tied on it. The jingling sound it made gave away what it was. A bunch of caps. "Where'd you find it?" she asked, eyes going wide. Jesse smiled, "On a dead guy." Autumn's eyes went even wider as she looked up at his face, "What? Where?" Jesse shrugged, "Southeast ward. He was wounded, and he had a few goods on him. He had a gun, some water, and these caps." Autumn stared at him as he opened the bag and emptied the contents on the table, looking like she didn't entirely approve. But then again, why not? Jesse found these caps fair and square. That in mind, she joined him and started counting how many there were.

When the sunlight peered through the bus windows and cast its brilliance across her face, she started waking up. Her eyes were revealed to a new day in the Mojave, and the fresh, crisp breeze of the morning. It was still a little cold but that would change in the near future, when the sun caught up with the day. She sat up and turned to look at Rem, who wasn't there anymore, nor were his things. The marksman carbines weren't there, either. She got out of the sleeping bag and started gathering everything up. When she walked out of the bus carrying everything, she saw Rem in the distance, hanging out with Ricky. The moment she laid eyes on him he laid eyes on her, and he held his hand up to signal to her. Then he looked at Ricky, "Alright, she's awake. Talk to you later." Ricky nodded, "Yes sir." As Rem started pacing in the direction of Autumn, she paced in his. When they reached each other he spoke, "Let's go to Michelle." Autumn thought about the carbines instead, "Do you have the guns?" Rem nodded to her, "I sold them." "What?" "Don't worry, I'm going to get you another gun." As he started to walk, she watched him, and then followed.

After arriving at Michelle's store, she looked perkier than the first time they spoke. She greeted them, "Welcome. What can I do for you?" she asked, and Rem stopped on the other side of the counter while Autumn stopped right beside him. "What weapons do you have on hand?" Immediately, she turned around and leaned down, picking up a leather sheet that she placed on the counter and rolled open. It sounded like there were nothing but metallic tools inside but once it was open, they each were looking at weapons. Rem glanced for a second but Autumn glanced for a while, caught up with the 44. magnum revolvers, the 10 mm pistols, and eventually, caught up with a rare plasma weapon. Her eyes went a little bright when she saw it, and so she reached for it and took it. As she held it, it reminded her of Gail, and figured that these were the kinds of weapons she wanted to use. Rem, on the other hand, had already looked away and continued watching Michelle as she pulled out some other weapons. She set down an old cowboy repeater, and Rem smiled.

When he turned to look at Autumn, he noticed how enchanted she was by the plasma defender she had in her hand. Rem's eyes went small in disdain and looked at Michelle. "We'll take the repeater," he said, reaching out for it. Autumn snapped out of her trance and looked at him, "Oh, uh, Rem. What about this one?" She held the plasma defender up. "Nope," he said, simply, and moved on, "I noticed you have leather armor." Michelle nodded, "Yeah, I have a small suit. Wouldn't fit you but it'd probably fit her, since it's a little adjustable." Rem nodded, but to Autumn, this was happening way too fast. She was looking at the big, lumpy cowboy repeater in disapproval when all of a sudden, Rem was ordering her to go try some leather armor on. "Huh? O . . . kay," she stepped by and followed Michelle, while Rem sat by and examined the cowboy repeater with all the interest in the world.

He held it up and pointed with it, then he pulled the lever out to the tip of the barrel and back to the butt, feeling it out. The motion wasn't as smooth as he would have liked and he figured that it could jam during an important moment. The barrel, however, seemed straight. The butt was sturdy and so was everything else, so it wasn't going to break any time soon. He turned the weapon around and peered into the barrel, knowing it was safe to do so because he could tell the gun was empty due to its weight. It was pretty dirty. Lots of debris in there that needed to be cleaned. _Perfect_, he thought, as he set down the weapon and waited. Minutes later, he heard two pairs of steps, and he turned around to look. Michelle lead and Autumn followed, donned in the leather armor. It fit her pretty well. Rem nodded, "That's perfect. And get her a hat, if you have one, like mine." Michelle pulled out an old, black cowboy hat that was torn in a few places and set it on the counter. Autumn glanced at it and then at Rem, " . . . _No_," she said, and moved along.

Rem glanced at her for a while, and then he shrugged, "Suit yourself." Then he looked at Michelle, "Three hundred and seven caps." Rem pulled off his duffle bag and looked through it, pulling out his sash of caps. It was fuller than before because he had used one marksman carbine to fix the other and sold what was left to the Gun Runner under the overpass. He counted the caps and eventually handed them to him, and then he remembered something, "Oh and thirty rounds for the repeater." Michelle nodded and turned around. When she turned back, she gave him the rounds in a small box and stated her price, "Thirty more caps." With that, he handed her the rest of the caps and then put his away. Autumn watched silently, a little disheartened by the gun he had gotten her. She didn't mind the leather armor, however.

She was still watching when Rem grabbed the repeater and handed it to her. She slowly reached out and took it, with such a lackluster grip that when Rem let go, the gun pulled her hand down. "Come on," he ordered, and she started following, taking the gun into two hands. She didn't like the gun at all. It looked old. "Why couldn't you get me the other one?" she asked, and Rem responded as they walked, "I don't know too much about energy weapons. So it's only fit I teach you what I know best, and that's lever action weapons. Don't worry, you'll get used to it." They arrived at the outer edge of the trading post when Rem stopped, glancing into the vast mojave and all the drying bushes and barrel cacti in the distance. "Alright, get a feel for the rifle." She glanced at him, at the gun, and then back at him. Then she held the gun up and pointed at things. She saw a barrel cacti in the small hole in the iron sight, and then at another, and didn't stop until she felt she'd hit the center.

"Okay, I have a feel for it." She turned to look at Rem and he was staring at her, blankly, "No you don't. Perform the lever action." "What?" she asked. Rem started chuckling. First time she had seen him laugh in her presence. "Alright, here, look," he reached out and took the gun from her. When he pointed, three of his fingers on his right hand slipped into the lever hoop while his index slipped into the trigger hoop. "You see this?" he performed the lever action of pulling the lever to the tip of the barrel and back towards the butt, "This is the lever action. When you do this, you load another bullet into the chamber so you can fire another shot." Autumn nodded, "Ohhhhh, okay." He handed it back to her and she took it into both hands, holding it the same way he did. She pointed and then she performed the lever action. She ignored the kinks in the motion entirely, continuing to perform the action until she felt she was used to it. "Okay," she said, and she was just about to relax when Rem spoke again, "Take a look inside the barrel." "The what?" Rem stared, "The barrel is the tube through which the bullet fires." "Oh, okay," she turned the gun out and looked into the barrel.

"It's dirty," she said, and Rem nodded. "Yeah. Come on," he said, as he started walking. She followed him. A few moments later he reached a bush, and when he did, he grabbed a thick branch and broke it off. After that, he started picking the leaves off. She watched him, wondering what he was doing. Then he reached into his trench coat and pulled out a dirty cloth. Looked like some torn piece of clothing, which he started wrapping around the branch. Once he had wrapped it, he held it out to her, "Alright. Use this to clean the barrel." She set the rifle down with the barrel against the sand. He looked down and noticed that as she took the branch, unsure of herself. Then she turned the weapon around and noticed the dust on the barrel tip, from having placed it on the sand. She wiped it off and then she stuck the branch into the barrel and pushed it down. Then she pulled it up. "Spin the branch," after he said that, she started turning it as she did. Then she pulled out the branch and saw a lot of the grime on it. She glanced at it for a little while and then continued.

The next time she pulled it out, she looked into the barrel and saw that it was cleaner. Not entirely clean, but cleaner. "Got another cloth?" she asked, "Take the same cloth and use the other side to continue cleaning." "Oh! Okay," she said, and started doing just that. When she started rewrapping the cloth, she took the easy way around and didn't wrap it around multiple times. "Hold on, wrap it around a few times, otherwise it'll come off and get stuck in the barrel. "Alright," she said, before she started wrapping it again. Once it was wrapped, she stuck the branch in there and started cleaning again. The rifle butt was placed against the sand and she began pushing the branch down and pulling it up, twisting it while she did. Rem couldn't stand how uncertain she looked, so he reached in, grabbed the barrel, and started cleaning rapidly. She let go and watched him, "Oh . . . I was afraid I could, I don't know, break it." Rem looked up at her and shook his head. When he was finished he pulled the branch out and tossed it aside.

"Alright, this is how you load it." He held the rifle in front of him as he knelt down and set the box of ammo on the ground. Then, he reached in and grabbed a round and loaded it into repeater. Then he took another one and loaded it into it, pushing the first bullet further in. "A cowboy repeater can hold seven 357. magnum rounds," he said, as he handed her the weapon. She knelt down just like him and set the rifle across her lap. Then she started loading the bullets. It happened very slowly, and Rem stared. "You know, during a gun fight . . . " Her eyebrows furrowed, "I know, I know. This is practice." _Besides . . . I didn't want this stupid rifle_. When all seven bullets were loaded, she looked at him. "Can I shoot now?" Rem shook his head, "Do the lever action to load a bullet into the chamber." She stuck her fingers in the lever hoop and complied, ignoring the kinks again and brute forcing the motion without making much note of it. "Now you can shoot," Rem said. "You see that barrel cacti about forty yards ahead over there?" She looked ahead and saw it, nodding, "Should I shoot it?" Rem nodded back to her, glancing at her and back at the barrel cacti, like he knew something she didn't. The sun was behind it.

She held the gun up and pointed, and the moment she did, the sun was in her eyes. She tried her best to ignore it and aligned the hole in the iron sight with the barrel cacti and fired, figuring she'd hit the center of it. When it hit the side, however, she lifted her head, "Hey, this thing isn't straight." Rem glanced at her, "Every gun has its spread. You gotta get to know yours." Autumn frowned and let her thoughts flutter,_ If you hadn't been such a damn cheap skate, I wouldn't have to worry about this_. She pointed the gun again and tried to make up for the spread this time. She pulled the trigger and nothing happened. "Lever action," said Rem, and she narrowed her eyes in anger. _Stupid gun_, she loaded another bullet into the chamber and pointed again. This time, when she pulled the trigger, the bullet fired. It didn't hit the center, and she held up her head. "What the hell. You can't get used to this." Rem glanced at her, smiling a little, because he was amused at this point. "You have to." Then he stood up, "You have eight more bullets to spend getting used to the spread. After that, you can't practice anymore. Bullets cost caps." With that, he started walking away.

Autumn stood up and glanced at him over her shoulder, _I have an idea. Why don't I use __**you**__ for target practice_?

Rem was walking away from her when he saw someone approaching him. A man, proably in his thirties, with buzzed hair, almost entirely bald. When Rem reached him the man spoke, "I understand that you ventured to the Followers Outpost nearby. Would you be willing to share what you found with me?" Instantly, Rem was on guard. This man was suspicious, but he felt that if he drew his rifle, it'd make the moment too tense and it was possible that this man could draw his smaller pistol quicker than he could draw his rifle. To make up for that, he paced towards him, speaking as he did, in order to be close enough to stop him from drawing a weapon if he had to without looking like he was cautious. "The Followers there were dead," he said, stopping barely a foot and a half away from him. This distance was comfortable, "They were attacked by a group of guys that were probably mercenaries. Looked like they knew what they were doing." The man stared and was silent for a couple of moments, "Did you assault them?" When that question was posed, Rem felt like it was suddenly certain that this man was one of their friends.

There was another pause during which Rem let both arms lay at his sides, ready for an altercation, and when he finally spoke, he spoke assertively, "I neutralized all four of the men that were there." The man nodded, and looked away as he crossed his arms over his chest. Rem was surprised to see nothing had happened but he was still suspicious, "Good," the man added. Then he looked back at Rem, "My name is Ezekiel. I'm with the Followers." Rem immediately relaxed. All of a sudden, the man's proper manner of speaking appeared so tell tale. Autumn approached them at that point, though she'd been watching the entire time. "I'm sorry," Rem said. Ezekiel nodded, "I had close friends there." Autumn spoke immediately, "Did you know Cassandra?" Ezekiel's attention shifted from Rem to Autumn, eyebrows raised, "Yeah. She was a good person." Autumn felt her heart get heavy again. "We . . . we gave her a funeral," she said, holding the cowboy repeater in hand. "I see. She deserved a proper funeral, most certainly." Rem crossed his arms over his chest, too, "Sorry about your loss."

Ezekiel glanced at Rem, "Well, I guess there's just nothing that can be done. That is how the wasteland operates." Rem nodded slowly, and then began walking past him, unraveling his arms as he did. When Rem left, Autumn stayed there, glancing at Ezekiel. There weren't any tears to be seen but she didn't need to see tears to know he was in pain. "Did you guys only give Cassandra a funeral?" he asked, and Autumn nodded. "She'd been the only one still alive when we got there." Ezekiel stared at her, "What was her status?" Immediately, Autumn knew what he was asking. Any smart person would imagine that a woman who had been held captive had likely been raped. Autumn started struggling with what to say but by the time she finished thinking, she knew what the correct route was. "We were very unlucky. When Rem was inside she screamed for help and the last gunman shot her out of frustration. If it wasn't for that she would have come out of the whole situation unscathed." Ezekiel reached up, rubbing his temple, and as he did, Autumn glanced over his shoulder at Rem, who was staring right back at her. He nodded in approval and turned around again, walking away.

When she looked back at Ezekiel, he spoke, "Thank you for shedding light on these events. I shall be more at ease because of it." Autumn nodded, reaching out to Ezekiel and patting him on the shoulder. With that, she turned around and started walking to where she had been target practicing. As she held the cowboy repeater up and pulled the trigger, forgetting again that she had to perform the lever action, she thought about how atrocious the wasteland could be. Though she started to get that same old sense of helplessness that she had gotten many times before after Jesse was killed, she beat the feeling away when she started to feel good about what she had said to Ezekiel. She figured that if Cassandra was around to see, she would have appreciated the notion.


	16. Ch 16: Camaraderie

Chapter 16: Camaraderie.

Rem sat down in the shade but didn't go anywhere he couldn't still see Autumn. As he sat there, he watched her, standing in the same place as before aiming the cowboy repeater from one thing to the next. Each time he saw her tilt it a little further up, he could tell she was aiming at something that was further away. "Hey," he heard, and the voice immediately snatched his attention and caused him to turn to its source very quickly. It was Ricky, not wearing a helmet and in his two hands, there were nuka colas. The sudden glee he felt when he saw that there was moisture rolling down the side of those bottles would have shone brilliantly, like headlights, in his eyes if it weren't for the fact that is was biologically impossible. "Oh man, _thanks_," he said, reaching out for one of them and taking it into hand. It was cold against the skin. Ricky nodded and began sitting down.

Both of them opened the bottle and stashed the cap, and just as Autumn turned around to look for Rem, she watched them drink nuka cola in unison. It looked comedic from where she was standing. Right after the initial, refreshing swig, Ricky motioned to Autumn just as she was turning away. "What's up with the girl, sir?" Rem's shoulders slowly lifted, shrugging, used to being called sir at this point and without the desire to advise Ricky against it anymore. "Am I with her? Or?" Ricky took a drink, "No, in general." Rem rook another drink, enjoying every drop of the cold soda, "Where'd you get these, by the way?" Ricky responded after taking another drink. They were downing the stuff so fast that each of them had less than half of what they had started with. "Michelle's got a working fridge hooked up to a pair of fission batteries. She charges extra but," he shrugged as he reached his point, "it's worth it."

Rem nodded to him, bending his knees and resting his arms on them. "Remember the trouble I told you about with those super mutants?" Ricky answered with a nod and nothing more. "Well," he breathed, too lazy to tell the entire story. He decided he had to, just about, regardless of how lazy he wanted to be about it. "Well, the Followers lost a supply crew at one of their safehouses and I volunteered to investigate. I got there and found lots of blood all over the floor." Ricky responded, drawing entirely on experience alone, "Night stalkers?" Rem shook his head, "Well, I thought so, too. There were drag marks, so the bodies had been dragged off." Ricky raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Rem, immediately understanding how anomalous this was, given it sounded like it hadn't been night stalkers. "The super mutant cannibals." Rem took another drink, nodding at the same time.

"Yeah but the problem is, I went looking for the corpses thinking I was going to deal with night stalkers, or any kind of Mojave wild life. Didn't do any scouting." Ricky listened, still looking ahead in Autumn's general direction. There was still some soda in the bottle but it looked like now that there wasn't much left, he was savoring it. "I found a cavern in the hills the safehouse was in and went in. Once I was inside I realized that there were no drag marks, and so, you know, couldn't be night stalkers. Just when I was leaving they arrived, so I started running inside to find a place to hide." Ricky spoke, "Damn, sounds bad, sir." Rem nodded to acknowledge the statement, "What I found was two teens. A boy and a girl," he said, taking a drink and dragging his gaze towards Autumn afterwards. "Autumn's the girl that was in there and her brother didn't make it."

Ricky took in the last drink and set the bottle aside, "And now you're teaching her the ropes."

"Yup, long story short."

There was a long pause and each of them watched Autumn. As they did, she fired a shot. Rem counted how many she had fired up until then and concluded she still had at least five more shots worth of practice. "How'd you get out, sir?" The question came out of nowhere, like somewhere amidst Ricky's train of thought he realized that little detail of the story was missing, and given he knew what kind of soldier Rem had been in the past, he was interested in knowing. "The bulk of them left a few hours later, and there were bottlecap mines in there that they had probably stolen. I stole them and set one up on one of the far corners and when they came back, I threw a pebble in the direction of the mine. One of them heard it and went to check it out, and set off the mine, giving me the chance to escape." When Ricky heard it he started chuckling, clearly amused by it. "Damn sir, that what they teach you at Ranger academy?" Rem smirked, "No, they don't. When you go to Rangering school, you have to have that _already._" Then he took another drink, enjoying every bit.

Ricky asked, "And then?" Rem glanced at him, amused that he wanted to hear the whole thing. "I ran out and left some mines in my wake. One got caught, and then one started babbling on about eating me. I played along but I gradually stopped responding as much, and then I went completely silent. The leader thought I was getting away so, I don't know what happened in there but there was another explosion and he came out running. I was hanging off a ledge nearby, and they missed me completely. When they were gone, it left me free to rescue the girl. You know, looking back, the guy probably tossed one of his subordinates at the frag mine. Dumb ass didn't think about throwing a large rock at it instead." Ricky smiled widely while Rem pictured the images of what it looked like inside when he went in to rescue Autumn.

As this conversation was going on, he started to reminisce on the days when he was actually still in the NCR. Even though he felt he had great reasons for not being in the NCR anymore, the days he spent as a soldier with them seemed more and more vibrant the more time went by. "Sir, why'd you leave?" Rem shook his head as he released a breath, tired of that question, and he took the last drink. "Never mind that. Tell me about you, instead." Ricky leaned back and rested his weight on his hands, beginning to talk as another shot from Autumn's cowboy repeater clapped. "Well, they haven't selected me for Rangership yet, so I guess I'm just another soldier." Rem shook his head, "You don't need that funky looking hat to be a good soldier." Ricky tilted his head, looking rather thoughtful, "It's easy to say that when you've been at the top, sir." Rem glanced at Ricky as he continued, "You've_ had_ your black armor before, sir." Rem glanced away.

"What'd you do with it, anyway? Won't suppose you'd let me borrow it," Ricky said, mouth widening into a smile as he did. Rem just laughed softly, "Threw it in a dumpster." Ricky started laughing a bit louder, "Shit sir, which dumpster?" When Ricky asked that Rem started laughing a little louder, too, and Ricky continued, "Cause I swear on my momma's peaceful soul I will find that dumpster, sir." Rem continued laughing, and so did Ricky, and after a couple of moments the both of them digressed. They each still had a very vivid smile on their faces, however. This was one of the reasons why Rem missed being in the NCR. Camaraderie.

"This heavy trooper suit fits you better anyway," said Rem, reaching out to pat Ricky's iron shoulder. "Provides better protection in the legs anyway." Ricky's eyebrows furrowed and he responded quickly, "Yeah and it's also real damn heavy, sir."

"So is the black armor."

Ricky shook his head, "Not as heavy. But I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't mind being a heavy trooper. They armor us up proper and arm us to the teeth. Love the minigun I've got." Rem started nodding in approval, "Yeah, I remember feeling easy when heavy troopers arrived on scene. When you guys are working in units, your firepower makes life simple." Ricky smiled, "Yup." All of a sudden, he loved being a heavy trooper. "Alright sir, gotta get back to my post, otherwise I'll catch hell." Rem dragged his eyes over to him and nodded, "Thanks for the cold drink." Ricky answered, "Any time, sir." Rem watched Ricky walk away, putting his helmet on as he did, and when he turned to look at Autumn he noticed she was approaching.

As she arrived, he glanced up at her, like he was expecting something wrong from her. It made her uneasy. "I'm . . . done," she said, uncertainly. Rem stared at her for a while with the same look and started nodding. She could feel that he was scrutinizing her. Doubting her, too. "What?" she asked. "Nothing," he responded. She placed the butt of the rifle on the floor and stared. Rem was staring back. "I didn't . . . I know I have some more shots to spend practicing, but I think I got it." At this point in time, Rem was just starting to feel very giddy about how uneasy he was making her feel. He shrugged and looked at her like he had no idea why, at all, she was explaining herself. "Oh no it's fine. Nothing's the matter." Autumn's eyes stared him down still, and every once in a while, she would look to one side and then right back to him.

_Man, you're so green,_ Rem thought, as he studied her. Even though she was clad in that leather armor and armed with a cowboy repeater, she still looked so inexperienced. She would have reminded him of himself when he wasn't a combatant, but honestly, he thought that he was never _that _bad. _You don't even know_, he continued, thinking about how uninterested she was in her weapon and her apparel. She didn't seem to care how her gun worked, and she didn't even care to ask how good leather armor is. After a while, she tried to exit the awkward situation, "So, where are we going next?" Rem's shoulder raised slowly and dropped quickly, "Not so sure right now." Autumn felt his answer left her stranded in the same awkward situation, "Don't we have someone we have to go help?" Rem smiled and started standing up finally, "I mean yeah, but it's not like I have a list on hand of people that need help or anything." Once he was standing, he took off his hat and used it to pat himself off. Very little dust came off, and as he tidied up, she spoke, "Then . . . what are we going to do?" Rem answered quickly, "Going back to my place for the time being."

After he responded, she stared at him questioningly. She wasn't all too sure what he was thinking, but she had the suspicion that he was being lazy. Rem, on the other hand, figured that the long walk from here to his home, which was off towards Goodsprings, would be a good way to start teaching her how to travel. On top of that, given the fact that he frequented those regions, he knew which paths were dangerous and which ones were not, and without a doubt, he'd be dragging her through the least safest paths to get her in situations where she'd have to use her weapon. Hell, he might even let her get roughed up a little. Start teaching her about pain, and even traveling with that pain. And maybe even . . . maybe even take her scavenging. Yeah, it'd be a _great _idea to take her scavenging. Already, he had a place in mind.

Some time in the afternoon, after Rem had stocked up with necessary supplies to make the next trip, he approached Ricky. "It's time for me to get going." Ricky turned his body in Rem's direction, answering as he did, "Oh? Okay sir, it was good seeing you again. Come by again some time." When Rem reached him, they each reached out for each other's hands and shook. Rem smiled, "Definitely. You take care our here, alright?"

"Of course, sir."

When their hands were disjoined Rem turned around and started walking, with Autumn waiting in the distance. When he reached her, she turned with him as he walked past her. Rem threw his eyes her way in one quick glance and when he saw that she was carrying the cowboy repeater in hand, he smiled. She noticed it. "What?" Somehow, she knew the smile had something to do with her. "Nothing," Rem responded. He wondered if wether or not she'd get tired of carrying that thing around like that, and he also wondered how long it'd take for her to realize that tying it onto your back was so much more convenient. Why did he find that he was enjoying himself with this so much?

Autumn started following a couple of paces behind but eventually, she quickened her pace until she was standing next to him. She was shorter than he was. Maybe just an inch above his shoulders. When the 188 trading post was behind them, Rem spoke. "Alright, when you're traveling, you have to keep in mind that the guy that sees the other guy first has the advantage. So, you gotta keep an eye out on everything. On top of everything, you don't want to pace on high places all too much. Some people, and animals, too, are perceptive enough to see even the smallest flickering object in the distance." Autumn glanced at him as they walked, listening and taking it all in. When he noticed, he smiled, "Don't look at me. Look around." Her eyebrows raised along with her shoulders and she turned her eyes out into the surroundings, glancing. All she saw was dirt, and other things in the distance.

When she tried to look eastward, the sun was in her eyes, so she raised her hand and placed it above on her forehead above the eyes to block out the light. Rem didn't fail to notice it. The way she was struggling with the sun, he was sure that it wouldn't take too long for her to recognize that she should have taken the hat he was buying for her. That in mind, he looked ahead, and then around, and then ahead again, continuing along with relaxed gait.


	17. Ch 17: Unbeknownst

Chapter 17: Unbeknownst.

The way a night stalker roamed the Mojave in the dead of night was eerie. It moved along like a vanishing plume of smoke, with its every detail being of clandestine nature. It was light on its feet and very perceptive in the silence that hung over it as if by the virtue of nature. From it, there came no sounds as it approached a bag filled with organs, arms and legs, and one blue eye. It sniffed thoroughly and after it did, the instincts that had been bestowed unto it by mother nature drove it to move away, concluding that the meat it had found was unfit for sustenance. As it continued moving along, it found the large body of a dead super mutant with pieces of the body blown away. It studied, sniffing more, looking for anything that it _could _eat, but there was nothing.

When dust and pebbles started falling from the walls it nearly jumped. Its body lowered and its front paws pressed down against the dirt heavily as it looked around, its hereditary night vision giving it a clear view of what was happening. There was nothing there that had been the cause of the shuddering, but with more time going by, it started to _feel _what was happening. There was something inside the cavern, something big, walking down the path towards where it was. In response to this, the stealthy hunter's body lowered and it started stalking in the direction from which it had come, pacing along with an impossible, silent grace.

"_Hmmmrph _. . . " it heard, as something shifted, and when it did, it paused. Whatever was there, it was huge. It could just feel it, dragging itself through the cavern, studying everything in its path before it continued on its leisurely adventure, not worried about anything. Minutes went by when eventually, its silent stalking brought it up to a corner. When it got there, it knew there was something right around that corner. Its mouth tightened and its hunting instincts took over, tearing apart the shroud of silence by shaking its tail. When it did, there was a rattling noise that in a cavern like this one, was extremely easy to hear. Following the sound, it exploded forth and rounded the corner, with a painful swiftness, finding a huge, ten foot _monster _on the other side that turned its body to the assault like it was addressing something as lowly as a gecko. It didn't stop the snake-coyote hybrid, however, because it vaulted up in an attempt to bite the neck.

"_Rrrrrargh!" _The larger creature yelled, reaching out with one of its enormous green hands and quite simply just _yanking_ the night stalker out of the air by the neck and squeezing tightly. There was an odd choking noise as the creature kicked its arms and legs, waving from side to side uselessly, still above the air, and then the super mutant wildly swung its hand. "_RRRRUUUUARGH!" _The large, humanoid beast smashed the night stalker's skull into one of the walls and repeated the motion twice, leaving the helpless creature to yelp in pain once before it was simply tossed aside, right into another wall. It smacked against the surface like a wet towel and dropped to the floor just the same with its neck broken, its skull leaking out gory contents, and with its torso bent in an awkward angle due to a spinal injury.

When the large super mutant stepped forth towards the felled creature, it did so with such an intense certainty that it appeared as though it could wrestle a Deathclaw into submission with nothing but its arms. "Worthless vermin," he said, with a refined tone of voice, staring down at the carcass. Once he was certain that it was dead, he stepped forward and ignored its presence, cracking its rib cage, causing its innards to spill out under the weight of his foot. The super mutant was wearing something different from the ones that had inhabited this cavern before. There was a large, heavy, worn iron breastplate strapped onto his chest and another plate on his back, each with a plethora of bullet marks on them, and there were smaller iron plates strapped to the fronts of his thighs and shins. All of it appeared worn but in the same vein appeared stubborn and sturdy, like it could survive being blasted by a frag mine. Appearance wise, he resembled the leader of the group that had been here. Yellowish green skin tone but its face was not set in a contorted, angry semblance.

As he moved along, his steps rattled the immediate walls, causing pebbles to roll off and bounce against the floor. Each felled super mutant that he found got an irritated breath, like he found them all pathetic as they lay there dead. When he slowly stepped into the confines of the final space in the cavern, however, his mouth opened into a sneer and his eyes narrowed, expressing a latent anger. These super mutants that had been here, all of them, had been devouring humans instead of bringing them back to their lair. What's worse, there was no sign of the commander, which led him to believe that he was out there, somewhere. "ALEEEEEC!" he yelled suddenly, causing the entire cavern to shudder in fear. "WHERE ARE YOUUUUUU?"

"Where are you . . . Aleeeeeec?" he asked, pacing along the Mojave outside the cavern. There were hills everywhere and he figured that if he went to the highest plateau, he'd eventually find who he was looking for. When he reached the apex of one of the hills however, by brute forcing his way up, he saw something else. A locale in the near distance, riddled with bullets. The safe house. "_Hrrrrmmmmm _. . . " he growled, breathing heavily as he did, and began sliding down the hillside. When he got there, he landed on the roof very heavily, nearly causing it to break before he hopped off and landed on the ground right in front of the door. He immediately stepped towards the door, which was half way closed, and slammed it open. The entire house shook when he did and as he looked around, he was disappointed to see that Alec was not here. There was, however, another dead super mutant on the ground. From the ones he had already counted, only Alec remained to be seen.

When he stepped inside, he began perusing the details of the location. There was lots of blood but he could tell some of it was older, so there had been two fights here. There were bullets lining the walls and there was one small spot near one of the windows with a small amount of blood staining the wooden floor. A human had likely died there. But otherwise, there was nothing of note.

SLAM

He whipped his body around towards the door and saw it had been closed by the wind. "_Hmmrph_," he growled, cocking his head back at the door in irritation before he started walking towards it. He turned the knob and whipped the door open, glancing at the ground ahead. He paused and stared, looking closely, and that was when he saw it. There was green dust out there, mixed with the dirt, spread throughout a small region. It dawned on him that he was looking at Alec's remains. "_Hmph hmph hmph hmph _. . . " he laughed slowly, "There you are." He approached and knelt down, reaching to the dust and grabbing some into his hand. When he raised it and let it sift through the spaces of his fingers, he saw the green traces shining when moonlight shimmered against it. "It seems you've already paid for your transgressions. Shame, I would have liked for them to have been charged by _my _hands." He stood straight and tossed the dust away, letting it glide into the wind before he turned back and walked into the safehouse again.

As he walked, he stepped on a super mutant and walked right over him, stopping once he was in front of the radio. When he picked it up, he messed with it. In Sandra's outpost, the radio came on and they heard something flickering. A doctor was walking by when it happened, and he stopped and picked up the radio. "Yes? Is anyone there?" The super mutant paused when he heard a human voice, and he grabbed the speaker, "Where are you currently residing, human?" The doctor on the radio suddenly became terrified, so much that he just . . . couldn't respond. Instead, he turned and yelled, "Sandra! Sandra!" Sandra arrived moments later, but after the mutant realized that he hadn't gotten a response, he figured that the human had cut the channel. Instead, he began sifting through the frequencies, looking for the one to his lair.

"This is General Farragut speaking. Do you read?" It took a couple of minutes but someone did eventually respond. A refined voice, just like his. "Yes, Carl, I read you loud and clear."

"Gerald!" Farragut responded happily. Gerald knew that it was artificial happiness that was _meant _to be readable.

"Yes. Do you have anything to report to me?"

"Why else would I be radioing in to my favorite comrade?" Farragut asked, with the same fake happy tone as before. Gerald sneered in response, growing increasingly irritated.

"I've found Alec and his team. They've all been wiped out, but that's okay." Gerald cut in, "Okay? I don't see why this would be a good thing, General." Farragut added, "If you would only let me finish, you would surely come to understand why I say this, Gerald." That same tone again. The fake courtesy that Farragut always used to make a fool out of him.

"They were devouring all the humans they captured. All the reports of there being no humans was a _lie_."

"Did you dispose of them?"

"No, Gerald, I wish I had had the pleasure but it seems I was beaten to the deed by someone else. Humans, I believe. Anyway, that ends my report. Thank you, Gerald, for your time."

When he turned off the channel he grabbed the frequency knob and spun it, leaving no traces he had been there at all.


End file.
